Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
The solution is so simple, the promise so true. But do we listen? No! We see the stack of bills on the kitchen table and feel yet another anxiety attack coming on. Or we “awfulize” the future: "Quit my job?! What if I can’t find something else?" "Move?! What if I can’t make new friends?" "What if . . . what if . . . what if . . ."
The Evil One just revels in planting these seeds of doubt in our vulnerable imaginations. He loves to see us strangled and impotent with fear. If we don’t counter his lies with the Truth, those seeds can take hold, distort our perceptions of reality, and ultimately, keep us from walking through the doors God opens for us.
Fear is a circular trap: It leads us to inaction. Inaction leaves us bereft of experience. Lack of experience leaves us without information. A lack of information leads us to still more fear. The cycle continues to repeat itself, thus bringing about emotional paralysis and self-defeating behavior.
Fear is Satan’s favorite “weapon of mass destruction,” as nothing keeps us from experiencing God’s provision like irrational fear. Fear can even sabotage our own healing.
The story in John 5:1-9 is a perfect example of this.
. . . Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool . . . Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked (John 5:1-9, NIV).
Why do you suppose Jesus asked that question? The man had been crippled for 38 years. Why doubt the sincerity of the man’s request? We don’t know the crippled man’s entire story, but later, in John 5:14, Jesus catches up with him and scolds, “See, you are all well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus didn’t name the sin, but his patience with the man was tested somehow. One can’t help but wonder, 38 years by the pool and not once could he get near the water?
How many people do you know who day after day whine and complain about their miserable lives, but never seem to take steps to improve them? Friends come alongside and suggest possible solutions, but it’s as though their ideas never register. Meanwhile, the litany of excuses and blame-casting go on, ad infinitum. They blame their parents, their ex-spouses, their bosses, their friends—everyone but themselves for staying stuck in stale, unhappy circumstances. They can pull out countless excuses for why they don’t take charge of their own lives. But the root of their problem is fear—and the fruit of their fear is missed opportunities, missed miracles, missed joy.
When you choose to stay in the role of victim, you never have to accept responsibility for your life—never have to face your fears. Perhaps the crippled man by the pool had managed to garner sympathy, even routine handouts from sympathetic passersby. He’d learned to identify himself over the years as a pathetic cripple. This man had grown quite comfortable in his role as victim. No doubt, he was fearful of the implications of his healing. After all, if he were healed, who’d feel sorry for him? He might even have to . . . find a job!
Our prayer for you today at No Heart Left Behind Ministries is that you begin to identify your fears that keep you paralyzed, just like the man at the pool of Bethesda. Replace your fears with faith-faith in the one who saved you from sin and death.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
