We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.Slice of Infinity Snippets:God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. 1 John 4:16-19 NLT
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ESV
“Afraid of burning? Apply Son-screen.” “How will you spend eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking?” “Life is Hard. Afterlife is Harder!” “WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning!”
...the fear of God is quite different from being afraid. Actually, the fear of the Lord is a component of faith; it arises from knowledge of God and from within the context of relationship with God.
I suspect the motivation (in the slogans above), even if unintentional, is to make people afraid of God so that they will turn to God and be spared. But here I believe we confuse God’s judgment with punishment. Often, we want to punish others, or we have misplaced the desire to see others punished for a sense of justice. In contrast, the desire for justice is the desire to see things put right, made right by God. As Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is a prayer for God’s justice to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Rather than using an apologetic of fear and bidding the world to see all that is fearfully wrong, we are instead exhorted in Scripture to proclaim all that God has set right in Jesus Christ:
Interestingly enough, more than any other command in Scripture, we are commanded to “fear not,” “do not be afraid.” ... So why do we want to use fear to try to persuade others of the good news of the gospel? Does fear have any place in the gospel message? In Jesus’s teaching and message, he reserved his warnings of judgment for those who considered themselves in the “right” with God--those who defined their righteousness by their own merits. Jesus never used fear to convert sinners. Rather, Jesus extended hospitality to those who were on the outside. Indeed, in his message announcing “the kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent and believe the gospel” Jesus extends an invitation, not an ultimatum driven by fear. It is an invitation to enter into the kingdom by following him--his way, his life. In the same way, our Christian apologetic must be invitational, as though God were entreating through us: “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”...
Author Scott Bader-Saye comments that fear twists virtue into vice. Fear motivated by a lack of love pursues punishment. When we are detached from love, we preach messages that are built on fear. But those who preach Christ motivated by love, cast out all fear. When motivated by love, we become ambassadors of reconciliation reaching out with faith and not with fear, winning the lost with the hope that God has first loved us.
Comments: A few things stood out to me in today's reading: that we are to implore (beg) others to be reconciled to God and that our apologetic (rational faith sharing) must be invitational. As I pursue REAL relationship with people who do not call Jesus friend, I pray that I am transparent about my fears, pains and losses. I have never been one to journal, nevertheless I want to remember difficult times in my life that I can share. Many of you have known me for a long time. Please do not hesitate to share your memories of difficult times where I was involved. I remember mom's scare with breast cancer, Darrell Meece moving from this world to be with God and my wife's battle with depression during her immense sickness from pregnancy with our daughter. Help me remember pain/suffering in my life so that these times may benefit those whom God entrusts to me; I implore you.
May we all be transparent as we invite our friends to be reconciled to God. We may run into many people today who say they do not believe in God; but I doubt you will meet anyone who says they do not believe in pain.
Faith Quote (shared by Pat): "Do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you? The person who lives by fears, especially the projection of those into the future, will not find freedom in my love." God speaking in fictional book "The Shack" by William P. Young
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