November 29: Don’t be afraid

And I say to you, My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear! Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 — New American Standard Bible)

This passage begins with an expectation of severe persecution, even to the point of death. For early Christians this was a real possibility, and even today, in fifty-plus countries of the world, this type of persecution is an all too real possibility. But even if we are not thrown in prison for our faith, or killed, we all face persecution of some kind when we have a genuine faith that’s put into practice. People will laugh at us, will exclude us, will treat us as small-minded and old fashioned… we will even be hated and despised. But Jesus teaches us an important lesson here: we must not fear what people can do to our physical bodies or earthly life, but rather fear for our eternal salvation — the true treasure.

We should never fall into the trap of thinking that our behavior is unimportant. We need to fear God, the One who sees how we live and will judge us. Jesus does not guarantee that all of us will be saved from actual life threatening persecution, but does encourage us to concentrate on making sure we are saved for eternity.

On the other hand, God knows the most minute details of what happens on earth, and to us. The two pennies that He mentions (“assaria” in Greek) were the smallest copper coins in circulation at the time, worth about one-sixteenth of a basic day’s wage. Jesus says that the sparrows bought with that small amount of money would not be forgotten by God. Now… if God keeps track of such small things, how much more will He keep track of us! If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that escapes His knowledge and consciousness. Whenever you have the thought that God has forgotten you, it is a lie. That’s what Jesus is saying here.

These words should encourage us to resist any kind of fear. We should not fear persecution, problems, the future, the past, heaven, hell… nothing. When we live in fear we are forgetting about God and allowing the world and the devil to dictate how we live. Is this easy? …living without fear? Absolutely not, but how hard is a life racked with fear? Fighting fear and living by faith is hard, but giving in to fear and despair is much, much harder, and brings no reward.

Meditate on this verse. Decide that you are not going to give in to the fear of persecution anymore. In all your decisions and thoughts, all your reactions, decide that you are going to fear God and nothing, and no one else. This will get God’s attention.