There is a lot to fear these days. At every turn, there is something to cause our hearts to panic, our thoughts to veer toward despondency, and our minds to wrestle with the “what-ifs”. At any given moment, trepidation hunkers down for a permanent residency deep within our spirits.
Those who lived in previous generations will tell you that this isn’t the first time the world has been in a state of turbulent unrest, chaos, and fear. The Civil War, WWI, WWII, famines, and The Great Depression were terrifying. The unparalleled horrors of the Holocaust and Rwandan and Cambodian Genocides are examples of the evil and darkest side of humanity.
Things can seem bleak right now. On top of current events, there are also the “regular” things to fear: losing a loved one, cancer, debilitating diseases, severe chronic illness, fear of losing one’s job and/or home, fear of the continual loss of freedoms, and the list goes on.
We watch before our very eyes the horrific murder of the innocent preborn (as I type this blog, the count is at 1,623,765,300 abortions worldwide since 1980). We hear of the 245 million Christians who are persecuted every year (and 4,136 killed every year for their faith). And the the approximately 4.8 million women and children who are sex-trafficked each year.
All of these things are frightening and remind us that the world we live in is far from perfect. And will never be perfect. It will never be a utopia, no matter how much one might wish it to be so.
But to spend time dwelling on such statistics can send us into a spiraling state of despair.
A state we were never supposed to reside in.
Life is short. Life is frail. And life is precious.
And for those of us in Christ, this is just a momentary stop on our way to spending eternity with our Savior. So as we continue on in this journey, may we find peace and rest in the arms of our Lord through the life-changing scripture found in His Word. May we allow it to sink deep within our hearts and minds so the next time fear comes knocking at our door, we can confidently turn it away.
May we remember to surrender our fears to Him minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day.
May we remember that nothing can take away the peace that comes with the assurance of Salvation.
This world is temporary.
The fears we have in this world are also temporary. But eternity is forever.
Before you go, check out these other posts:
conquering the joy zappers of life
the video camera is always on, part 5
15 verses for strength in challenging times
what to stock up on this winter
Penny Zeller 