Trust, Not Fear
Welcome to another miracle day highlighted with overcoming our fears! I was chatting with a friend the other day and I was talking to him about writing this series on fear. I actually told him that I was fearful of what people would think when I told them I was afraid of people’s opinions about me! We both laughed at how ironic my statement was! After we stopped laughing, my friend lowered His voice and confessed, “Grant, I am afraid that God will reject me because of all the bad I have done.” He began to cry, and I began to pray. I believe my friend had touched on a common fear that many people struggle with understanding.
In the depth of our soul, where we hold on to the broken memories of our past, we also are stuck in a crippling fear and belief that God simply can’t cover our sin. We wrongly believe that God could never possibly love someone with our baggage. We believe that in some way, we are just a little dirtier than everyone else. We think, even if we are accepted by Christ, then our friends and families are sure to reject us.
friend, when that fear hits you remember that Jesus went first and experienced the pain of rejection firsthand.
Isaiah 53 says...He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:2-4, NIV)
Scripture says that He was despised and rejected by men. I can’t promise you that you won’t experience the rejection of people, most of the people He encountered rejected Him. But, I can promise you that if you overcome your fear, and reach to Jesus, that God only has one answer to your fear! God’s answer to your fear is a promise of TOTAL ACCEPTANCE! Romans 15:7 is God’s promise and it says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:7, NIV)
My friend, you never need to worry about being rejected by God. It will never happen! YOU have God’s word on it. So, live free today and bring praise to His name through your courage and your obedience! And never forget, my friend...
You are a miracle!
