MEDITATION:
Written by N.T. Wright, a contemporary theologian, speaker, author, and the former Anglican Bishop of Durham. This is an excerpt from his work “Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship.”
Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order, is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and apostles? What do you think—‘Be good’? ‘Be holy, for I am holy’? Or, negatively, ‘Don’t sin’? ‘Don’t be immoral’? No. The most frequent command in the Bible is: ‘Don’t be afraid.’ Don’t be afraid. Fear not. Don’t be afraid. The irony of this surprising command is that, though it’s what we all really want to hear, we have as much difficulty, if not more, in obeying this command as any other. We all cherish fear so closely that we find we can’t shed it even when we’re told to do so. The person who has been worrying all term about exams finally finishes, and still wakes up the next morning with the adrenalin pumping, ready to dash off to the exam room one more time. The person who has worried for years about money, and then suddenly inherits enough and to spare, still finds that they go hot and cold all over when they walk past the bank. It is said that once a practical joker sent telegrams to every member of the then government, saying simply: ‘All is discovered—fly at once!’; within twenty-four hours they had all left the country. We are all of us, wrote the anthropologist Nigel Barley, overdrawn at the moral bank. Every one of us has something on her or his mind about which we badly need a voice to say: ‘Don’t be afraid. It’s going to be all right.’ As the Lord said to the Lady Julian: ‘All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’ Let’s make no mistake about it: until you learn to live without fear you won’t find it easy to follow Jesus.
PRAYER:
Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary Christian author, writer and pastor.
Father, you are good — so good that you did not leave us alone on this earth. You left us your Spirit to guide us. Because of your Spirit, I never have to feel alone or afraid. You are with me always. Amen.
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