For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. -2 Timothy 1:7
Without fear.
That little statement has so much meaning in it. I find myself being so afraid to do things, to mess things up, to make the wrong decision, or to do something completely irrational. I have been reading through first and second Timothy the past couple of days and have stumbled across several truths that I had not really thought about before, but the one that stood out to me the most was the fact that we, as believers do not have a spirit of fear.
A week ago I found myself facing a fear that I had no desire to conquer, and I literally had a list of things that I was afraid of. It wasn't until 20 minutes ago as I read this verse that I realized that my fear seemed so silly. I have a God that overcame the grave, and I am here being afraid of such little things? That doesn't make any sense at all.
Even though I knew it in my head, I realized that God really is going to give me the strength to get through the things that I cannot handle on my own... and by that, I mean He is going to give me the strength to get through this life, because without Him I am nothing. I don't have to think about facing life alone, because I have a Savior that is always present.
God gave us a spirit of love. Love. That doesn't mean that I can go around being disrespectful to others, treating other people like they don't matter, and acting like I am better than the world. That means I humble myself, and show love to others in whatever way that I can. I always have to love people. Always. Whether I feel like loving them or not. God doesn't stop loving us because we do something wrong so He doesn't feel like loving us anymore. And if we are called to love our brothers just as Christ loved us, then we can't stop loving others just because we don't feel like it. I catch myself doing that so many times. Someone does something that seems annoying or mean and I automatically want to write that person off and turn my back to them. But that is no way to treat others, and definitely is not a way to show Christ to others.
So then there's that little thing called self-control.. okay not so little? Maybe it's the BIG thing called self-control. This my friends is something that I constantly am working on. And it goes hand in hand with loving others and trusting that God will give me strength. There are going to be times when I just can't stand someone, my patience are gone, or I've taken just about all I can handle, but that is when I need to lean on God's strength even more. I can't let my mind wander in fear. I can't forget all things that I am supposed to do just because I'm tired. And I most certainly cannot stop loving people just because I don't think that I can handle being around them.
God is good. He is not going to leave us hanging when we are scared, when we are powerless, or when we are lacking in self-control. But, we need to lean on Him, trust in Him completely to give us the strength we need, to guide us through life, and to help us live without fear.
