Finishing the Race – Strong! (14)

 

Continuing from our last post:

Two verses which were vital to me in confronting fear are 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18. Another verse which was linked to these two verses is Colossians 2:10. When I say “verses” I mean not only the words themselves, but the images and reality behind the words, that is, what the words mean. As long as the Bible is “out there” and external to us it means little, but when it enters into us and becomes one with us, then transformation into the image of Jesus Christ occurs. The verses in the Bible are not some kind of magical pills that we take and then go on with life as we see fit to live it, but rather the Bible as a whole communicates God to us and draws us into relationship with Him. Peter writes that we are partakers of the very nature of God through the promises in His Word (2 Peter 1:4), now that is something to both ponder and experience!

Therefore, when I write that for an extended season of my life, a season of years, that I meditated on 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 John 4:18, and Colossians 2:10, I mean that I repeated them to myself verbally and in my heart and mind, that I walked through them as walking through a door, that I entered into them as entering into a room, that I rested in them as I’d rest in a chair, and that I ate them as I’d eat bread out of the oven. 

I also learned to invoke them, to remember them, and to declare them when confronting fear and uncertainty. As I came to understand that some things and situations tended to trigger fear, that I had certain patterns within me, I learned to see these situations coming toward me, much as an ocean wave at the beach, and I prepared myself by recalling the reality, in Christ, of these three verses. This is akin to an American football quarterback learning to read the opposing team’s defense, the quarterback learns to call an audible to adjust to the opposition’s alignment. 

It is also important for me to say that these verses, as I hope to show us, are really first about Jesus, they are not primarily about you or me. These passages made a liberating difference in my life because they reveal Jesus Christ, it is only as we see Jesus that we are transformed. We ought not to buy into the thinking that people need better self-esteem, that is simply not Biblical. What we all need is more of Jesus Christ and less of ourselves, for in Jesus we find our true selves as our Father created us and meant for us to be. We will never find our true selves until we see Jesus Christ and know Him living in us and know us living in Him. 

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). 

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).

With respect to 1 John 4:18, when confronting fear I learned to recognize that in my Father’s love there is no fear, that He was not the author of the fear that I was confronting. I also believed that His love was working within me at that very moment, in that very situation, to cast out the fear I was facing. This led me to trust Him in the midst of fear and uncertainty and in the temptation to accept the fear and the old patterns of life. Another way of putting this is that I surrendered to our dear Lord Jesus and trusted Him to shepherd me through the situation. I learned to have joy and confidence in the notion that there is no fear in the love of God, and that His love casts out all fear from our lives.

2 Timothy 1:7 was a constant reminder that our Father is not the author of a spirit of fear, He does not give us such an evil thing. Rather, our Father has given us a spirit of power – a strong and courageous spirit; a spirit of love – of course God is love, we ought to realize this; and a sound and disciplined and thoughtful mind – a mind with definition and purpose that will not be intimidated by darkness. 

The above is about what our Father and Lord Jesus have done for us, it is not about anything that we have done or achieved or merited; it is really all about the incredible love of God for us and the salvation and wholeness we have in Jesus Christ. We are called to receive from God, not achieve from God. 

We see these same images throughout Romans Chapter 8. For example, in Romans 8:15–16 we read, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” 

Then we have the grand question in 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” 

The answer? “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39). 

When we contemplate our Father’s incredible love for us, and that His very Spirit lives within us; when we consider that nothing can separate us from His love in Christ Jesus; when we remember that our Father absolutely has not given us a spirit of bondage and slavery with its fear, but rather the Spirit of sonship, of adoption – then we can learn to live free from fear and in the love and freedom of the daughters and sons of the Living God. 

Then we can run the race laid out for us in Jesus Christ and we can finish strong. Then we need not fear peer pressure. 

We’ll look at Colossians 2:10 in our next post in this series.