BOB SLOSSER
Open Your Eyes Wide, and Don't Be Afraid
By Bob Slosser
CBN.com Columnist
CBN.com
- I have been slow in picking up on the
fear in the land. It’s certainly not because I'm so brave
I didn't recognize the condition. Neither was I unsympathetic. I
guess I simply was looking the other way or not paying attention.
It's not just the kids either, although there’s been concern
about them. It’s all ages and both sexes, with little concern
for geography.
We have never seen such horror, thanks to the brilliance and
bravery of cameramen and reporters. American newsmen are without
peers in coverage of disasters and major tragedies, such as the
assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and the seemingly immediate
tragedies around Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Give the
hungry beast something horrible, nonpolitical, full-scope to go
after, and they will overcome earthquakes, hurricanes, violence,
and danger to do, even overdo, an unsurpassed job of truth-telling.
But when the ol' politics and other axes that need grinding start
to seep in, look out; all bets are off. God bless and save the
press!
Fear is an awful thing. Old family photos show sad fear in my
wide eyes. World War II-era pictures were okay. Apparently I,
an Okie, was constantly fearful in the thirties because of the
Depression. I saw a lot of ugly things, and I knew they could
envelop me. Remember, it was like a ghost, nothing to strike back
at, a sort of terrorism. It's like that in a lot of little, third-world
nations all the time. Look at the eyes.
I personally run to Jesus any time I'm afraid. He says lots about
fear.
Since discovering the condition in America -- surprisingly in
the high schools -- I've had one thought rumbling through my mind.
And I'm tormented by the urgency to communicate (not to preach)
the antidote to the beloved kids and their elders. But the antidote
requires faith, hope, and love nothing else. Without those virtues,
what I'm saying sounds like garbage. But sound like a fool I must.
When a crowd described as "many thousands" had gathered and they
were "trampling on one another," Jesus began to talk, softly at
first: "I tell you, my friends [that’s the creator of heaven
and earth speaking, folks, Almighty God, and he called us friends],
do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can
do no more.
"But I will show you whom you should fear [revere, respect]:
Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw
you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him."
There was something about Jesus, maybe it was the eyes, that
caused people to hang on every word he spoke. Their reaction to
these words was fear and trembling, for he moved right into these
reassurances: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet
not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of
your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more
than many sparrows."
They start to relax a bit, then: "I tell you, whoever acknowledges
me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before
the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned
before the angels of God" (Luke 12:4-9, NIV).
Now, mortal friends, understand who those angels are. They take
their orders from God and are unlike anyone we’ve seen in
strength, wisdom, ferocity, and love. Nothing mortal stands against
them. And they are real, unlike what we see on television and
film. They have a huge mission and it’s for God and all
he calls his own.
Let me leave you with this: Jesus was telling us to have a real
view of life, not just that short view we've learned. Life is
eternal. I really mean that. It goes on and on, forever. Take
that view and understand him. You don't have to be afraid and
that's the truth.
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