Today we continue contemplating how Christ’s death and resurrection effect our daily lives. Melissa Jackson adds her voice to the Because of Easter… series with a guest post on fear and the gospel.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? – Matthew 6:27
I repeated this verse to myself hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Day after day–sometimes hour after hour–I recited Jesus’ words, to no avail. No iron bars surrounded me, yet I was imprisoned. It was 1999, and I spent the better part of that year held captive by fear.
A new baby. A father-in-law losing his long battle with cancer. A grandfather succumbing to Parkinson’s. A flood that left my hometown under 6 feet of water. The unknown impact of Y2K. All of these elements of my life collided together to produce insurmountable, paralyzing, all-consuming fear.
My husband learned there was a direct correlation between my anxiety level and the number of lights he had to turn off when he came home from work at 7:00 a.m. Nightmares haunted me; I could not escape, even in sleep.
I tried. I read Scripture. I prayed. I berated myself for being so silly. Fear’s spindly fingers had wrapped themselves around my heart and my brain, tightly choking every bit of joy from my life. They would not loosen their clutch, no matter how hard I pulled and pried.
I cannot remember when this season ended. I do not recall a particular moment of suddenly feeling the weight lift from my shoulders. Looking back, I suppose it was a gradual process. Though the deep-seated fear gripped me for a short while, anxiety lingered in the recesses of my mind for a decade. No longer content to be relegated to the sidelines, fear once again reared its ugly head in 2009 when my husband lost his job.
This time, I was prepared. I had learned that, “When we feel anxious, we are to remind ourselves of the gospel. Because of the ongoing incarnation, we can rest assured that the One who bore and continues to bear our flesh is providentially watching over us.” (Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ, p. 147)
Because of the gospel, I have a guarantee that everything that happens to me is for my good and for God’s glory. (see Romans 8:28)
According to Scripture, Jesus spent quite a bit of time preparing His disciples for His coming death. When we come to John 14, He has just finished telling Peter that he will deny Him. Jesus’ next words are, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” (v. 1) He has just told the disciples that He’s going away. He understands that Peter may not understand the truth of his impending denial. He knows that they are frightened by the unknown. And He gives them 5 instructions regarding fear, which Mark Dever outlined in his Palm Sunday sermon:
1. Obey out of love (vv. 15, 21). Our love for God will compel us to make His will our own. When this happens, we are able to accept circumstances without fear.
2. Act on our prayers (vv. 12, 13). If we make God’s will our own, we will pray for things that glorify Him and we will act on those prayers. Jesus said that whoever believes in Him can do greater works than He, because He was going to the Father; the Holy Spirit empowers believers to accomplish these works.
3. Rejoice in God (v. 28). Jesus wanted the disciples to rejoice for His sake because He was returning to the Father, whom He loved. Even in the face of loss, we can rejoice in God’s sovereignty and His love for us.
4. Trust His Promises (vv. 1 – 3, 18, 27). He shared the purposes that would be accomplished after His departure. Likewise, we can trust that His purposes will be accomplished through our circumstances, whatever they may be.
5. Realize We Have God’s Spirit & His Word (v. 16). Believers are never without help! When we understand that we have not only the Word of God, but also His Spirit to guide us in understanding the Word, we can trust that we need nothing else. In The MacArthur Bible Commentary, John MacArthur writes, “Believers are allowed, by the Word and by the Spirit, to know the thoughts of their Lord.” (see 1 Corinthians 2). Could we have any greater force at our disposal?
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, I have the Holy Spirit which empowers me to obey Him when obedience seems impossible, to believe Him when belief seems irrational, and to trust Him when trust seems inconceivable. Because of Easter, I am no longer afraid.
Read more posts from the Because of Easter… series: Because of Easter… I Can Believe the Impossible, Because of Easter… I’m Alive, Because of Easter… I am Reconciled, Because of Easter… I Can Wait, Because of Easter… I am Free, Because of Easter… I can Serve with Joy! and Because of Easter… I Can Be Honest About My Sin.
Melissa is a working mother in Virginia, living a quiet and simple life (1 Thess. 4:11-12) with her husband and teenage daughter. She enjoys reading, writing, coffee, football, and bonfires. She is passionate about discipling teenage girls. She blogs at Breath of Life and Out of the Ordinary.
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