What if We REALLY Believed Jesus?
We talk the talk. Don’t we? We have the good scriptures memorized.
“I can do all things…”
“For God so loved the world…”
“Lord, if it is your will take this cup…”
“Our Father who art…”
“Though I walk through the valley of death….”
Tomorrow morning, we will be up bright and early. We will dress in our best. We will press palms and welcome each other with Christian fellowship, drink coffee, sneak a donut, repent, praise, pass the cup, break the bread, nod amen.
If the sermon is spot on and the music is just right there may be a tear shed – we vow to be different, better this week.
And we will leave filled up, and we will now feast, nap, mow lawns, clip coupons, wash one last load, and start all over Monday morning.
Afraid.
This is my peg word. This is how I have lived the better part of 44 years.
Afraid.
Afraid of death, doom, gloom, vomit, spiders, the IRS, the scale, cancer, Walmart, egg salad, and pain; these things are what haunt me.
And although I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death – I still fear much evil. Although, my Jesus has saved me time and again… I continue to be afraid. If He were here now He would certainly ask, “Are you so dull? How long must I stay with you? Really Jami? You think you will drown – I am IN THE BOAT?!?!”
Afraid.
This word rocks me to my core. Lately, it is all I hear.
“I am afraid of what will happen to our country…”
“I am afraid we are nearing the end of days…”
“I am afraid of getting hurt…”
This word is the perfect antonym for Christ. And yet, I use them in the same breath. “I love Jesus. I am afraid of _________.”
Still, it occurred to me that the one thing I fear most, getting hurt, doesn’t scare me like it used to.
It dawns on me, in the last two years, because of who He is, I have become quite brave. Last night as I tucked our young foster daughter into cool, clean sheets, in a pretty little room, decorated just for her, a familiar companion gripped its vice on my heart and I was afraid. As the baby greedily sucked down her bottle, little eyelashes fluttered shut and a voice whispered on the second: “Be not afraid.”
And this is who I want to be.
One who is not afraid.
Daughter of the King who never speaks the words, “I am afraid.”
I am not a sociopath, although I probably would benefit greatly from some lithium and counseling. I am not afraid to lose this child. You who say this to me, “I can’t do foster care, I am afraid I would get hurt.” I am about to hurt, my family, this child, and this child’s family hurt.
And we wish you would stop saying this. You, who sits behind me in church and chimes “It is well,” who is afraid of foster care, shaking hands, and Hilary Clinton, please stop telling me you are afraid.
Stop serving Jesus on Sunday and join me in being unafraid of everything.
It will hurt.
It might be really bad.
It will get ugly.
It will unravel.
It will weigh us down with its terror and folly.
But let us not stop that which we are called to out of something as simple as fear. The oldest trick in the book, the newest wave of Americanized cop out, the grandest scheme of the enemy is for us to be afraid. Furthermore, to speak and live in fear adds fuel to the devil’s fire and stifles that which we might accomplish for GLORY.
And I will not lie, I sat in a rocking chair in that pretty little room, decorated just for her and I grieved. Although she is still here, and I was not alone. I was reenergized by His presence. For if/when she goes, her story is not over, her legacy is royal. And to you who says you can’t, afraid you will get hurt, let the breath of the spirit breathe this truth over you: “Blessed are those who mourn…”
What if we as Christian never spoke the words, “I am afraid…” What if not a single believer or non-believer ever heard us utter this again? What if we were never seen on Fox news or in line at the grocery store listing our fears?
What if we really believed in the power of the cross? What if we knew full well, “This is the weight of my cross, it is heavy and back breaking, it hurts, still I am not afraid.”
Would the masses come forward and beg to know this Christ who eradicated the words “I am afraid” from our vocabulary? Would the neglected and abused have a safe haven in our homes? Would we conquer death and that dark valley of horror like a boss? If only…
We truly believed Jesus.
In my brokenness, He is with me. Never leaving or forsaking me.
I am not afraid.
May your floors be sticky and your calling ordained. Love, Jami
“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
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As long as one is of two opinions…..as one Ives with garments “rent in two”…..and as long as on “cuts themselves” instead of cutting the belief that tells them they should cut themselves (see Elijah and The prophets of Baal)…….as long as one eats from a tree that tells them they are bith Good and evil……thw anointing upon a life will be……fear.
There is an image of God that man and his churches “command that people must believe in or they will be thrown into a fiery furnace”…..Nebuchadnezzar….remember?
This “two sided” image is the good and the evil fed to people….and the message is this…..I am a saint….but…..and….I am a sinner.
It is impossible to be both. If a person commits sin….he is a child of the devil…..1st John…..he that is born of the spirit cannot commit sin…..he that is of the seed of God does not sin……
..if my house is divided….
It will not stand…….
Iived divided for years…..and what was my drink at the end of every day?……..fear !
Sin us a noun….it is not a verb. Sin is an idnetity ine is told that they must carry…. or…..go to the fiery furnace…..hell.
When Adam and Eve fell…..it wasn’t fir eating an apple…..they fell because of one single deception….
“God knows that in the day you eat thereof….your eyes will be opened…and you will be as Gods”……what was the deception?
They already were as Gods created in his image….after his likeness…….and yet man believes and teaches in fear that they are not as God.
Hiw odd I thought…..after our creation Gid blessed the males and the females and saud be fruitful and multiply…..Hmmmmmmm……
Why would he create man…bless man….and then condemn man? What?
No…….. religious man condemns himself and teaches if you do not bow down to the image we tell you is truth about God……you will go to hell….
Olyn those who believe in the sin of God shall be saved…..and all begin believing that Jesus was the sin if God…….yet are they saved from fear and condemnation…..no……they find that fear Nd condemnation increases…..why?
Because their house inside is divided and the sinner side destroys the saint side…..two masters !…… good AND evil and God said do not eat from the man inside the tree if this message!
Ans yet service after service we are taught that we are good…….AND……evil !
The sinner will not stand in the congregation of teh righteous! He can but he he won’t because he does not and nevwr has fully deemed himself to be “worthy” anf the more he sings holy holy holy lird God Almighty….he amplifies inside that he is all the more dirty dirty dirty!
And so why do people jet straight to the Olive Garden after church? Because they are still…… starving for food?
And what food are they starving for? Food and truth that feeds the Son of God that you are and a sin free Son of God if you be born of the spirit, if thw seed of God……..
Iove the telling question Gid asked Adam……WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO told you hat you were naked?
Mankind told themselves they were naked……and to this day people are continually argued with guilt and they flock to a house where they eat the same message…..the message of good AND evil……
Wow……really? Yes……really!!
Condemnation is not your Friend !
Sin is nkt what you do…..sin is the judgement one holds as who they are ! What they are!
Hmmmmmmm……amazing !!
Oooops…..I responded from my phone and in re-sending my comment…..ooops typos !
Example I meant Son of God not Sin of God……if my comments merit publishing…..the spell correction is needed……
Thank you…..
I read many of your posts!
I could still read it!
As always, Jami, you have introduced an idea that lingers in the back of my mind, but rarely sees the light of day. We DON’T have to be afraid if we believe in Jesus’ teachings. Four months ago I was terrified as I looked toward my future as, not half of a couple, but a single mom, solely responsible for the upbringing of my two beautiful little boys. ‘One’ is most definitely not the same as ‘half of two.’ But I am slowly learning to do the things that need to be done. I am most certainly no longer afraid of death, because I know my husband is waiting for me when the time comes. I lean on Jesus a lot these days. He has not let me down. And I know in my heart that he won’t. Keep writing, Jami. Love to you and yours.
Terry, you and your sons continue to frequent my prayers. You I count among the most brave. Love, J
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