After Pentecost Devotional - Day 12

"God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?" Matthew 6:30

Faith and fear walk hand in hand, even if they are most often at odds with each other. Faith is about trust and confidence. It is about being able to focus on what God truly desires for us, with the certainty that our needs will be met in the process. Fear is rather the opposite, by which we are more certain than not that our needs will not be met. It is faith in reverse, and often as not mixes with our faith, even while it undermines what faith offers.

Fear and anxiety undermine where faith would take us. They keep us from reaching the results that faith would produce in our lives. We allow fear to shape our decisions. We allow our anxieties to direct our steps. We allow worry to keep us from acting on faith, rather than take a step back to see where faith would take us.

That is not to say that we should march willy-nilly through life with no planning or care in the world. What it does mean, however, is that while we are unable to see how God will provide for our needs, there are many avenues whereby God is able to direct and provide for us. As we open ourselves to God's direction under faith's guidance, we are open to another plethora of possibilities that fear and anxiety would block from our view.

Anxiety, fear, and worry limit our perspectives on the possibilities of the future. They keep us from assessing all the options before us. Instead of focusing on what is possible, they press us to look at everything that could possibly go wrong, often envisioning very improbable scenarios that do little more than keep us from acting. They rob us of living and enjoying the process of life.

Faith, on the other hand, would focus our attention on the positive possibilities set before us. It leads us to assess both the present and the future from a position of confidence. By so doing, faith empowers us to act, even while understanding that not everything will go according plan. Faith is an enabler, not only of action, but of enjoyment. It allows us to savor life and the experiences set before us.

This is what Jesus proclaimed for us. He proclaimed the possibility of trusting God to care for our needs, even as God cares for grass, flowers, and weeds. Just as God showers the entire field with rain and sunshine, Jesus reminds us that God is willing to care for the needs of one and all without distinction.

Our fears, anxieties, and worries about the future, however, are generally focused on those things we don't trust God to provide for us. They focus on our selfish impulses, our desires to avoid conflict, and our dreams of living under an umbrella on a beach with a cool drink in our hands. God and faith call us to a life of purpose instead of an idyllic fantasy devoid of meaning.

Determine to allow faith to take you to where God would lead you, far beyond your fears.


"Lord, help me to trust you into a life of meaning, allaying my fears to live in confidence."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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