Advent Day 18

Day 18

Running to Fear

Luke 2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

This is an astonishing verse to me. In the verses preceding Luke 2:15 the shepherds “were so afraid” (Luke 2:9). Yet six verses later the shepherds are leaving to search for that which they feared.

Fear can paralyze us. Fear can stop us from doing the things that we love the most. It can prevent us from making some terrible choices but also some of the best choices of our life. Fear can make us question our life, our priorities, our hopes and our dreams. The devil uses fear so freely to prevent our impact and to squander our gifts. I was sitting in a conference (one of many that I attend for work) and the speaker was talking then he said something that started my mind to wander. He said “When was the last time that you did something for the first time?” That chord these words struck, struck deep within my heart. It made me begin to question not only my motives but also my past recent actions and was I doing things for the right or the wrong reasons. Fear didn’t need to stand in my way for I needed to face fear and try things for the first time. Can you imagine how the shepherds felt? They just heard GOD speaking to them (FEARFUL-awesomeness) and now they are going to go and check out this place where they hope will be a baby like God said. Fear commands Faith and faith produces hope.

When is the last time that you did something for the first time? When is the last time that you did something that scared you because God was calling you to do it?