Before we take down all the decorations, drag the tree out to the burn pile, and set Christmas aside until next year, I think it’s good to revisit the message shouted from the heavens by the amazing angel choir “Fear not!”
Even when you open up your credit card bill and finally register all of your holiday spending.
Fear not when you take a look at your kid’s report card, and you wonder if he will ever leave home because he can’t even pass math.
Fear not when you get the results from the doctor’s office and all those problems you thought were behind you aren’t.
Fear not when you open your computer to MSN and there is more dissention amongst the ranks and fearful news about everything from lethal asteroids to deadly hemorrhoids, as media ramps up your fear to keep you opening up your computer to click on the latest thing to fill you with fear and rob your courage and resolve.
Fear not when your world is turned upside down with grief and loss and you wonder how you are going to function while your heart I breaking in two.
Why so do we decide to Fear Not? Because the Messiah is here, Emmanuel God with us. Don’t be afraid. You lose your fear when God is near. God’s presence trumps our panic any day.
The rock concert in the sky that night in Bethlehem was to let us know for millennia that the baby born that night would grow into a man who is capable of HANDLING IT ALL and YOU IN THE PROCESS. These are good tidings of great joy.
To the man with leprosy he said, “Be healed.”
To the woman bleeding for 12 years, Jesus said, “Daughter your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your suffering.”
To the disciples in a storm, he said. “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid. I got this and you got me. Fear not!”
To all of us he said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! (Have courage) I have overcome the world.
Fear not. I’ve got this. No matter how daunting your situation, how difficult the circumstances, I can handle it. In John 14: 27 Jesus said, “ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” My paraphrase: You’ve got me, and I got your back! Fear not.”
To all of us who let Him, He promised, “I will be with you always, to the very end of the age,” Mathew 28:2.
Fear not appears 365 times in Scripture, that’s one “Fear Not” for every day of the year. Here is your “fear not” for today.
(Taken from a talk done at a recent Christmas Tea.)
Happy New Year!