Before - the time of
waking refreshed and the sun
shining through your curtain.
making
plans for your future thinking you know all the road bumps.
dreaming about
the one person you will fall in love with and marry.
remembering
life as rosy with few cares in your world.
hearing the
contented sigh of your newborn child.
whistling
as you skipped down the sidewalk to a friend’s home.
staying up
late because school was closed due to snow.
The “befores” seemed so numerous and so wonderful before…
waking to
the sunrise perplexed yet not knowing why
making
plans but fearful of road bumps
dreaming about
what might happen to a loved one held so dear
remembering
that one time back when life wasn’t so rosy and carefree
hearing of a
new virus and thinking about your newborn
whistling
loud to cover the volume of the news as it hurtles like a waterfall on your
personal world
staying up late to stay abreast of
the closures of businesses, schools, and countries.
And this is life, you fear. Life different from any you’ve
known before.
Cries of “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”
Fear for your life and the lives of the ones you love.
Wondering if you’ve said all you need to say because you or they may not live
another day.
Grasping in panic for any lifeline, then hearing of doctors
and nurses falling to the same song. “No one is safe!” you shout in your head.
So many sick; so many dead.
FEAR burbling to a crescendoed shout that deafens all reason.
FEAR given way to TERROR and the change of life you thought
you controlled.
A change not dictated by professionals, but a change mandated
by yourself because FEAR has confronted you head-on with your own MORTALITY.
That sudden REALITY and the extreme of your FEAR cause an
instantaneous HUSH.
A HUSH that comes from knowing you KNOW NOTHING.
You control NOTHING.
You cannot stop DEATH.
You cannot snatch your LIFE from its viselike grip.
DEATH, when it’s time, CANNOT be CHEATED.
And with that REALITY, you are ready to listen, and see, and
come to know.
Life is a GIFT. A Gift given from the CREATOR GIVER.
And a hush comes over you as you
recognize this truth.
And you come to your moment of
decision.
You recognize you
cannot cheat death.
You cannot save yourself.
You have very little control and all
you want is the sun to shine through your curtains again and to make plans and
dream and remember and hear and whistle and stay up late because it’s just
snow.
Then you realize you can
have this even when fear calls to you. You can have this hope and live in the knowledge
of the victory that you will always have this, even if not in physical form,
but in the mind, spirit, and heart because you KNOW the CREATOR GIVER.
Live life with HOPE.
Live now and the future with HOPE.
Accept the HOPE God gives each
person who believes in Him.
Then VICTORY is yours because you
are GOD’S CHILD.
You want to be a child again and
dream and wake to snowy mornings with the sun shining through the curtains and
know that no matter what happens, fear does not win because Jesus has given you
victory over fear, sin, and death. Before takes on new meaning. Before is the
time prior to you becoming GOD’S CHILD. NOW and FOREVER is living in the
VICTORY HE GIVES YOU.
A Devotional Thought
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” (1 John 4:18 [NIV])
This verse comes from 1 John, in which John writes to
believers in Jesus Christ. He reminds them if you have fear, you do not have
perfect love. You are not mature in your faith in Jesus Christ. Perfection is very
difficult and none of us ever get it right and are truly perfect through our
own means. Yet, John says we can be perfect; we can be mature. This perfection,
perfect faith in Jesus, comes by knowing and believing the love God has for us
(vs. 16) and becoming His children through faith in His Son, Jesus. John said, “God
is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
Love and fear cannot occur at the same time. Fear is from
Satan. With it he causes us to doubt for our lives, reputations, jobs, safety, and
salvation, etc. Satan, in his attempt to keep us from believing in Jesus as the
Son of God, tries to turn our eyes away from God by distracting us with fear. This
is why John said perfect love casts out fear. Fear and love cannot occur at the
same time. Satan doesn’t want us to be perfect in Christ. He doesn’t want us to
grow to maturity in our relationship with God. Satan seeks to create chaos so
other people will not believe in him. If he can cause the people who believe in
God to fear, then unbelievers see no purpose in believing either and he can
lead many people away from salvation.
Perfect love, God’s love that He gives to us and that lives
in us as His children, casts out fear. Is your faith growing to perfection or
are you allowing Satan to distract you with fear for your life?
Perfect love casts out fear just like God cast Satan
out from heaven when he sinned against Him. Because God lives in His children,
His love resides in them, too.
Perfect love casts out fear. As a child of God, you
have His love residing in you; you have perfect love in you and available to
sustain you during this time when Satan is trying to distract you from God and
your relationship with Him.
Perfect love casts out fear. You have this love in
you and can share it with other people so they have hope, and fear cannot cause
terror and panic in their lives.
Perfect love casts out fear. You, as God’s child who
has His perfect love living in them, love people just as God loved us enough to
send His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so we could be in relationship with
Him forever. Are you showing and sharing this love with others who are fearing
and living in terror during this crisis?
Perfect love casts out
fear.
What are you doing to
grow and allow God to cast out fear in and around you?
Lord, God, I
admit, I am afraid. I’ve been following the news of this crisis and I fear for
my life and the lives of people I love. I had not stopped to think about You
and Your love for each of us. Forgive me for getting so absorbed in the
unfolding and mounting crisis that I lost sight of You. Forgive me for not
coming to You before now. Why do I only think about You, God, when crisis comes? Lord, save me now and save me from my sins
forever. Help me to believe in You always. Let the love, Lord, You’ve put into me show so
people see Jesus in me and want to know about the peace I have even in the
midst of this crisis. God, speak and work through this body You’ve given me so
that others come to know You as their Savior and have Your peace because of You
living in them. Let Your love be evident, so the fear Satan is causing decreases.
Let Your will be done, Father, on earth as it is in heaven. Perfect me, mature
me, so that day by day I become closer to You, our relationship becomes more
intimate. May Jesus’ prayer that we be one as You and He are one come to
fruition. Amen.
