All fears are prophecies about the future, do they start small?Can a thief steal your bike, will the scarecrow eat it before the end of the night?And it’ll grow from there. However, these fears need help to become global and apocalyptic.
I grew up in an era that provided this help. I was in elementary school at the height of the “Red Threat. “The last major planet Earth [2] was a bestseller and the media reported on the worst of the world’s problems. With such fertile soil, no Christian needed imagination to glimpse the Red Army using demonic devices to detect that you were a Christian. eager to subject you to the worst torture until you renounce Jesus or die. It was, I thought, the worst of times.
- Then I grew up and realized that every season is actually the worst of times.
- The truth is that we always have help to globalize our fears.
- There’s always a new threat.
Below are some common fears, among a list that can be endless
? Fear of the complete moral collapse of the surrounding culture; ? Fear of economic collapse and chaos; ?Fear of Islamic extremists; ? Fear of resistant viruses, pests, dangerous chemicals, etc.
How can these fears be re-eded? A line of defense is to be rational, to ensure that data and facts mitigate fears. Take, for example, Islamic extremists. Since most religions develop thanks to parents who pass on faith to their children, statistics suggest that there will be no Islamic majority in the near future, because there are simply more Christians than Muslims now, and even a sudden increase in average size Children. Islamic families won’t make much difference during this period. Fear relieved.
A second defense against these fears is to imagine the worst and prepare, alert others, build a shelter or simply continue to imagine the worst, as if it were a talisman for the worst.
These defenses, of course, are just temporary amenities. We can’t trust the data, the odds are in our favor or our personal preparation. We trust one person. Any response to distant fears that emphasize information and preparation rather than trust is ungodly. Information and education are not false, but they are not our first response. God’s people first turn to Him: we do not know what to do; But are our eyes on you?(2Cr 20. 12).
When we turn to the Lord, we first consider the greatest promise of all: “I will not leave you under any circumstances, will I never leave you?(He 13. 5). Our sins are what separates us from our God, but now the Perfect High Priest has made the perfect sacrifice and, after making atonement for sins, has sat down. The sacrifice for sin is over. We’re sure of your presence. We will not face our fears alone.
This promise is included that it will give us the daily grace we need. The image of the Old Testament behind this is the gift of maná. It was enough for a day, but we didn’t have to store it for the next day, not unless you trust our actions. Tomorrow we will find new mercy, an unexpected new gain and abundant grace.
This grace will allow us to rest in God and stand firm in the face of any suffering or temptation that the world may encounter, in the face of any fear that may materialize (1C 10. 13) Does his presence assure us?Receive mercy and find grace to receive help at the right time?(Heb 4. 16). We just have to ask.
Promised grace makes our terrible predictions obsolete. Even if we are right in our predictions, and generally we are not, we cannot predict the grace that will be poured out upon us that day. Instead, we visualize the future with the grace we have for ourselves. difficulties today, and this grace is enough for today alone, not tomorrow. Tomorrow he’ll come with a new stock for free.
With this future grace in sight, we tell the story of our lives and the history of history. Think of Psalm 23, for example, as a model. By faith, we became the sheep of Seigneur. Joy and rest are the order of But sheep must move, and this path will be problematic, as we saw when the Lamb of God submitted to his shepherd by the same path. The problem can be severe. This may include Assyria, Rome and other threats that can kill us, but the story doesn’t end there. Our enemies will look from afar as we sit at the table at God’s banquet. They will be ashamed; We will be a family with the Honoree. As we walk toward the house of the Lord, without fear of any evil, we pray that his will may be done on earth as in heaven (Mt 6:10). And hajj takes us to the house of God, where his will is done continuously. The history of the scriptures always ends well.
In fact, life and history end gloriously for God’s people, and as we turn to this end, we can foresee this: God’s grace will follow us in such a way that we will fear less and less evil.
[1] N. T. : In the United States, after World War II, the fear sown by the population to communist action infiltrated in society or government.
[2] N. T. : Hal Lindsey’s successful book, which associates contemporary events with apocalyptic prophecies.
By: Edward Welch. © 2013 Ligonier Ministries. Original: Fear of the future.
This article is part of the October 2013 edition of Tabletalk magazine.
Translation: Joel Paulo Aragono da Guia Oliveira. Review: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel. © 2015 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Are you afraid of the future?