Yesterday we introduced the topic of fear and desire as the motivators of life. If you have a second, check out yesterday’s post, and then join in the discussion. If you were with us yesterday, I hope you had some time to think about your fears, the good ones, the ones that can fuel faith.
::My second fear comes from, in my opinion, the scariest passage in the Bible. Matthew 7:21-23 reads,
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
This verse is couched in Jesus’ larger sermon on the Mount, tucked in between the clear teaching that a tree is known by its fruit and that the wise man (who builds his house on the rock) is the one who hears God’s Word and does it. In short?
Obedience is the hallmark of true faith and one’s fruit never lies. I pray that I am living a simple life of obedience to God, cultivating the soil of my heart so HE can bear fruit that lasts. But the fact that some will truly be deceived into thinking they are doing God’s work (prophecy, demon-possession, and miracles) when the real work was simply obey the Father–this is sobering indeed. I tremble at the truth of this. This fear should keep us on our knees.
I want to be very careful not to read too much into these words, but it is interesting that the three things listed are prophesy, driving out demons, and performing miracles in Jesus’ name. Certainly not saying that those who do those things are guilty of this! But perhaps it is those things that seem so religious that are most tempting to pursue instead of pursuing obedience. At least in my own life I’m never tempted to “over-pursue” obedience. Not much glory in it, not much that’s addicting, not much there that can ever feed my flesh.
That’s probably why obedience is the hallmark of truth faith.
Obedience builds our house on the rock, obedience creates soil where real fruit can grow. Obedience is the proactive way that we can grow in humility (which is the soil where all fruit grows). We can’t necessarily make ourselves humble, but we can choose to submit our will to His, which is the humblest move we can make.
The fear? That all kinds of neat religious-looking activity would crowd out the good stuff.
The stuff that’s authentic.
The stuff that matters but perhaps that no one sees.
But He sees. And He’s the one whose words we’ll hear someday? Some will hear, “I never knew you,” and some will hear, “Well done…” That’s about as good of a fear as you can get, right? Back to that breath prayer,
Lord, help me be faithful.
7 thoughts on “Three Good Fears (2)”
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Prophesy, driving out demons, and miracles can be a slippery slope, directing too much attention on the performer, no matter how much we may want to do these things in His name. My fear is that I do not fear your fear enough 🙂 . Does the possibility that I could stand at the edge of eternity and be sent away scare me? There should be nothing more terrifying, and, yet, some days that plays out in my life more than others. For me, I fear two things about my walk: do I fear the evil one enough, and do I revere God enough? I think I need to get both of those right – miss either one and I am in trouble. As guideposts I look to 1 Peter 5:8 where we are reminded the devil is our enemy and is on the earth (not in hell some place far away) looking to DEVOUR me (and not just trip me up or make things hard) and then to Revelations 4:8 where the most powerful/terrifying creatures I can imagine demonstrate the proper way to worship our Lord:
Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
So, when I look at my worship and try and start my days with time in His Word and have to rush it (skip it?!?) because I am late or to busy, I think of the creatures who NEVER STOP praising our Lord and the 24 elders who FALL TO THE GROUND to declare His worth. When I remember that, my fear is properly placed. Sorry for taking so much space – you must have hit a nerve 🙂
John, I am so honored that you would come to this little corner and share your thoughts. I love them! Take up as much space as possible, in fact–write a guest post! 🙂
Amen and amen. Your words are challenging. I wonder too how much damage is done because we aren’t aggressive against the wiles of the enemy. Just read 2 Kings 10 this morn where Jehu strikes down all the prophets of Baal…that was an aggressive attack!
Thanks for this. Blessings on you and Karen.
Thanks Kari. Since I became a Christian later in life, I am afraid often. Am I doing this right? Am I teaching the kids correctly? Am I creating an environment that is conducive to helping my family grow in their love of God? I try not to fear too much and try to hand over my life daily to Jesus. There is a lot for me to learn, and I know He will lead me if I let him. Thank you for your posts. They are nice little eye openers in the morning. It is helpful to know that even life long Christians still have fear. It let’s me know I am on the right path and the learning never stops. God is Amazing and has so much to teach me. That is exciting.
Oh Meg, thanks so much for your honesty. Yeah, I still have those fears too. 🙂 Especially in parenting…parenting is such a “by faith” daily discipline because we don’t see the fruit very quickly! I pray you are strengthened today in the beautiful sacred work you do in raising your kids and serving your Lord. So glad you piped up and said hello…you were a little gift to me this morning. I’m praying for your day!
Today I came for Prayer Cards and ended up in Fear. I am new to loving Jesus and my husband doesn’t. Current fear: can I trust God enough to be obedient when my husband doesn’t trust God at all. Add to that the divided loyalties of a step family with yours and mine kids. You hit a cord with me this morning too, cause the tears just won’t stop flowing. Time to hit the floor and pray.
Well, I suppose prayer cards can help with fear! 🙂 In light of eternity we are all new to loving Jesus. 🙂 Being a beginner is the BEST place to be. Love your honesty. Girl you are walking a hard road with your husband, and I KNOW that God will give you the strength to be a quiet, faithful, loving, kind witness. The kind that can win him without a word. You have a big calling there, dear girl. I’m praying for you! Thank you for taking the time to comment–I love growing together.