Fear.
Fear drives us to do some crazy things. Fear is a powerful thing. It can keep us from making the right decision. It can keep us trapped in a way of life that is keeping us from seeing all that God designed us for. So many of us keep from stepping out in faith because we are afraid of the unknown.
Hope.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the movies that have come out in the Hunger Games series. Or maybe you’ve read the books. I remember watching the movie and hearing President Snow make this statement: “Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.”
Here we are on the last day of this time of prayer and waiting to see what God has for us next. And we have an equal opportunity in front of us. There in front of us we have the opportunity for fear and the opportunity for hope. They are both there. There is a vast unknown out in front of us. This is true at all times of life. If there isn’t anything unknown before you, you’re either dead or might as well be.
So, here we stand on the precipice of the unknown. Will we step out in faith or recoil in fear? Will we look into the unknown and take a step a faith, even if that one step is the only step we can see? Or will we stand back, play it safe and just do what we know and what we have done before?
I don’t know about you, and I won’t speak for you, but I am finding myself filled with an increasing desire to step out in faith and boldness. I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to live in the successes of the people who went before me who were actually brave. I want to be brave as well. I don’t want to tell the stories of previous generations. I want to tell our stories. I may not see the whole path, but the steps I see I am ready to take. How about you? Are you willing to take the step even if you can’t see the path?
Let me offer one last word of prodding. Jesus has conquered the greatest fear we can imagine. There is nothing in life more scary than death and Jesus beat it down. Fear has nothing on us because fear has nothing on our Savior. And when we are following Him, when we are living in Him, empowered by Him, we have nothing to fear – not even fear itself.
So, today, my prayer is that we be filled with hope. We have every reason to be full of hope. In fact we ought to be so full of hope that hope is spilling out of us on the world around us. We ought to have hope to spare because there is a world full of people around us who still have a lot to be afraid of. And we have the hope they need. The question is, will we be full enough to share our hope with them? Or will we still buy into the lies of this world that keep us from experience the full hope Christ has to offer?
Be full of hope.