When You Fear God

Remember: the worst that can happen to us leads to the best that can happen to us.

Paul was fearless in advancing God’s kingdom because this fact resonated deeply in his soul. He could declare to Christians in Rome, the chief persecutor of Christians, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8).

Writing from a Roman prison cell, he could testify to Christians in Philippi, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20–21).

You and I can be as certain of our eternal status as was the great apostle because such status is guaranteed not by us but by our Father.

Henri Nouwen makes this point powerfully: “Just try for a moment to enter this enormous mystery that you, like Jesus, are the beloved daughter or the beloved son of God. This is the truth. Furthermore, your belovedness preceded your birth. You were the beloved before your father, mother, brother, sister, or church loved you or hurt you. You are the beloved because you belong to God from all eternity.

“God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture, God says, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel like it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, ‘I love you, too.'”

The next time fear of mortality strikes, claim God’s assurance: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Then substitute your name for “you”: “I have loved Jim with an everlasting love.”

Say it aloud to yourself.

And know that this is what your Father is saying to you, right now.

This is the promise and the invitation of God.

---

For more spiritual insight every weekday, subscribe to The Daily Article by Denison Forum.

---