We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

peace

Do Not Fear

We interrupt this election season to bring you the following reminder:

[F]ear is a diabolic force. Its ultimate creator is Satan, and he uses it to keep us in bondage (Heb. 2:15). Throughout history, leaders have used fear to rally the masses around their causes, sometimes getting them to do things they otherwise would never dream of. Most of the worst atrocities committed in history–by so called Christians and others–were motivated by fear. People felt threatened, demonized the ones who threatened them, and thus felt justified in doing whatever they thought necessary to protect themselves. It is impossible to live in love and live in fear at the same time, which is why Scripture says that love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Now, as kingdom people we are called to live in love, which means we are called and empowered to live free of fear. Because our source of worth, significance, and security is found exclusively in God’s love and God’s reign, not our own immediate well-being, and because we believe in the resurrection, we are empowered to love even those who threaten our well-being–for this does not threaten our essential worth, significance, and security. We are, therefore, not to fear them (see 1 Peter 3:14-18). If we do fear them, it is only because some element of our essential worth, significance, and security is rooted in what they threaten. In other words, fear is an indication that we are living in idolatry, not love.

All this is to say that kingdom people whose lives are exclusively rooted in Jesus Christ will not succumb to motivation by fear. Our motivation for all we do is to be love, not fear (1 For. 16:14; 2 For. 5:14).

The Myth of a Christian Nation, pp. 179-180

Photo credit: Greg Rakozy via Unsplash

Related Reading

Podcast: Emergency Election Episode

Greg discusses the election. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0071b.mp3

Tags:

Shouldn’t preachers rally Christians to fight political injustice?

Question: My pastor has publicly supported your book The Myth of a Christian Nation. But he’s recently called on the church to take a stand against the injustice of our local government cutting funding for inner city recreational facilities. This seems right to me, since we’re suppose to defend the cause of the poor and…

Friday Lights: Refuge

Each Friday we post content sent to us by our readers that is inspiring, funny, lighthearted or just generally fun. If you’d like more information on submitting content for this feature you can get more information here. Jean Rath sent us the video above, along with an article that chronicles how this family escaped war and terror…

Lighten Up: Eat, Pray, Love

You Have What We Call a Theological Problem

Peter Enns posted a blog entitled: Dear Christian: If the Thought of Either Romney or Obama Getting Elected Makes You Fearful, Angry, or Depressed, You Have What we Call a Theological Problem. He makes some pretty good points. What do your emotions around this election tell you about where your hope lies? From the blog: There…

Greg and Bruxy Pulpit Swap

Greg Boyd and Bruxy Cavey swapped pulpits last weekend. Here are a couple of clips to give you an idea of what each of them offered. You can access the full sermons here and here.