How God Took Away My Worst Fears (Part 3)

If my wife and children were to die for the Lord, they and I are ready, and we would say sad goodbyes as we honored the Lord in martyrdom.  We would see each other again, and expect this reunion.  But we also know that death is an enemy, defeated by Christ and to be resisted.  We will not lay down our lives until "our times comes."  This is the example of our Lord and Savior Himself:

 

• "At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come."  John 7:30
• "He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come."  John 8:20
• "Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp."  John 10:39
• "At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds."  John 8:59

There are at least for attempts on Jesus' life, four times people tried to kill him. But "his hour had not yet come."  So Jesus did not submit to death.  He came to die on a cross, not by stoning, not by being thrown off a cliff. 


Do you see this?  Do you see that our Savior knew the kind of death He was to die, and the purpose of that death?  Are we not God's children?  Is it not our destiny to be conformed to the image of Christ?  We should not submit to death any more than Jesus did.  Unless we know that our time has come, we should resist dying before our time.  And God is with us in this.  He is with you, me, my wife, and my children.  By reading His word, God took away my worst fears. 


But what about you?  How do you feel about all of this?


I'm not asking you to feel what I feel, because my feelings came from God, not someone telling me what I'm telling you.  You may have lost someone and see no meaning or purpose in that loss.  You may not feel what I'm feeling right now.  I'm not asking you to.  I'm asking that you go to God. I'm asking you to ask Him to do for you what He did for me.  If you still live in the fear I did, or you are experiencing the heart wrenching pain of a dead loved one, go to God, even right now.  I'll go with you.


"Dear God, if someone is reading who is grieving, I dare not minimize his pain.  I dare not lessen her sorrow.  Death is painful and sorrowful.  I only ask that you not only comfort the one who is reading and grieving, but that you do for him and her what you did for me.  For those who share my worst fear, take away their worst fears as you did for me.  And for those who feel that what they feared most has already happened, even in this, do for them what you did for me. In the name of Jesus, The Resurrection and the Life, Amen."