Danger should be respected, fear we choose!

2 Peter 1:3-6 (NLT)
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

The Apostle Peter explains we have been given what we need to live lives according to God’s will. God has given us promises so we can stay motivated and not fear the world when we are called to do His work. All of this is to incite us and engage us so as to advance us in the grace and holiness God has so generously supplied.

 

 

Following an Easter service in 2003, a woman approached a pastor I know and asked, "So what happened with Jesus after the Resurrection?" "Well, he ascended into heaven and he's still alive," the pastor said. "I know he was resurrected, but he's alive?" she said. "Yes, he's alive." "Alive? ALIVE?! Why didn't you tell me?!" For the next two weeks, she telephoned everyone she knew and exclaimed, "Jesus is alive! Did you know he's alive?!" This woman was motivated to tell others about Jesus and His life after death.

South African Bishop and Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu puts fearless evangelism this way:

There is nothing the government can do to me that will stop me from being involved in what I believe God wants me to do. I do not do it because I like doing it. I do it because I am under what I believe to be the influence of God's hand. I cannot help it. When I see injustice, I cannot keep quiet, for, as Jeremiah says, when I try to keep quiet, God's Word burns like a fire in my breast. But what is it that they can ultimately do? The most awful thing that they can do is to kill me, and death is not the worst thing that could happen to a Christian.

Danger is to be respected, but fear is a choice we make. We should never fear standing up for what God has called us to act upon. God has given us His promise that He will be with us when we are following Him. Stand up for God as He has already stood up for you.