CamDevo

Seeing the things that “Christians” in America seem most passionate about, one would think God had told His followers to, “Be afraid! Be very afraid!”

But this is the opposite of what God tells His children. Some people say there are 365 Bible verses telling people not to be afraid. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know there are a lot of scenarios in the Bible where God is, yet again, telling someone to “Fear not!” It’s as if we need constant reassurance. And clearly we do — refer back to my first point.

“Christians” are acting afraid.

Looking at their behavior and the things they ardently fight for:

They seem terrified of gayness. Are gay people going to “turn them or their children gay” somehow? (I don’t understand and am only guessing.)

They seem scared of women. Are women somehow going to steal the power of men and upset the whole balance of nature? (Again, I don’t understand and am only guessing.)

They seem afraid of minorities. Are they worried that they will somehow lose the culture and traditions they are familiar with and suddenly find themselves in the minority, subject to the same discrimination they have inflicted on others? (I don’t know.)

They seem absolutely distraught over immigrants. I really can’t even guess about this. Maybe they are just worried about resources and having to share? Or afraid of anyone speaking a language they don’t understand? Or just afraid of differentness and change?

They are horrified at the idea that gun use should be regulated. This is fear wrapped in fear. If we have gays and women and minorities and immigrants everywhere, we will certainly need our guns, right?

In general, they seem afraid of anyone different from themselves, any changes to the status quo, and anything that could potentially decrease their power.

All of this is so anti-Christian. It is diametrically opposite to everything that Jesus modeled and taught.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭CSB‬‬

If I believe God is who He says He is — the Creator of everything and the ultimate power over everything — I don’t need to be afraid of anything. God can handle it. If someone new comes into my life, my job is to see how I can love them, not how to protect myself from them. If society is changing around me, I don’t need to fear it. The world is constantly changing. My goals and values can remain the same without fear of what others are doing. Again, my goals and values are to love. God will take care of anything else that needs taking care of.

I can fight against evil without fearing it. But I need to use that spirit of “sound judgment” so I know how God defines evil, and the spirit of “love” so I know how God wants me to fight it.

Evil is not anything that is simply different from me. Evil is not just something I don’t understand that makes me uncomfortable. Evil is hate and deceit and selfishness and the absence of goodness and love.

To fight evil, I cannot use more evil. I can only win with love.

Dear God,

Thank you for giving me a spirit of power, love, and sound judgment. Forgive me for letting fear make any of my decisions or dictate any of my actions. Fill me again today with your Spirit so I can cast all my fears away. I know with you, there is never anything to worry about. My job is simple to love.

On the TV show “Ghosts,” the ghosts are able to walk through walls. This is a pretty typical convention when portraying ghosts on TV or in the movies. But on “Ghosts,” they joke about why they don’t also fall through the floor into the basement. Or why they are able to sit on chairs but not pick them up and move them.

And in one episode, a character falls in a well and is stranded there because she can’t climb up the walls. She can only walk through them into the vast nothingness of the dirt in every direction. But if she can walk through the dirt, how is she standing on dirt? Why doesn’t she fall to the center of the earth? Or why couldn’t she walk up dirt, like stairs, to the surface?

Clearly there are a lot of unanswerable questions about these ghosts because someone just made them up. The writers needed them to interact with each other so they stand on the same floors, sit on chairs, and climb stairs.

God is not a ghost like these characters, but He is a Spirit. (See John 4:24)

There is not a lot of information about what a spirit is in the Bible. It is left vague. But we do have a few clues.

As Spirit, God is everywhere, all the time. (See Psalm 139:7-10)

God doesn’t have a human body. God the Son came to earth in human form, but God the Father did not.

God is invisible to us (See Colossians 1:15), unless He chooses to reveal Himself in some way, like the cloud of smoke that led the Israelites through the wilderness or a burning bush for Moses.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Because God is Spirit, He is not limited by the dimensional or temporal restrictions of created things. There is no greater freedom than that.

Because God loves me, I can know God and have a personal relationship with Him. Through that relationship I can have freedom as well. I can have a taste of it now — freedom from my sin and its ultimate price. And I can have freedom to the full when Jesus returns.

Dear God,

Thank you for providing your word as a way to learn about you. Thank you for revealing yourself as much as my puny brain can comprehend. I look forward to the time when I can more fully understand you. In the meantime thank you for giving me what I need to live free now.

Following Jesus is the biggest gamble anyone can make. I’m literally gambling with my life.

If I’m wrong about Jesus, I will have squandered the one and only life I will ever have on things like philanthropy, volunteering, and kindness. Instead of using my limited time and resources to enjoy myself and to ensure comfort, luxury, and pleasure, it will be wasted on reading ancient texts, sitting on hard pews listening to people talk about those old texts, and praying to someone who doesn’t exist.

On the other hand, if what Jesus says is true, my sacrifices will all be worthwhile. This life will just be an uncomfortable and confusing, but relatively brief, blip in an otherwise everlasting and beautiful existence with God.

It’s an enormous risk. It takes complete faith. You can’t hedge your bets. It’s all or nothing with God.

Then [Jesus] said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭CSB‬‬

It’s a wonder anyone takes this huge risk by giving their life away. The one life they can see, hear, and feel. In exchange for a life that is a future, glimmering promise…

I know the secret — the answer to the why.

When I started down the road of gambling my life away, I discovered it’s not a completely blind faith. God reveals Himself along the way. Each time I reach out to Him, He reaches back to me with two strong hands. Each time I take one tentative step toward Him, He takes five confident bounds forward with me in His arms.

The time I spend here is leading up to that beautiful new life, preparing the way, teaching me about the God who loves me and wants to spend eternity with me. And every moment I spend close to God now, obeying Him, listening for His voice makes the time here less uncomfortable and less confusing.

And after some time, following Jesus doesn’t feel like a risk at all. In fact, it seems like a very sure bet.

Dear God,

Thank you for revealing yourself to me when I turn toward you, listen for you, look for you, and reach out to you. I need your reassurance so badly. Forgive the doubts that nag at me daily. I am so grateful for your revelations and reminders of your ever-present love. I have joyfully put all my chips on you.

I can do a lot of things with my words. I can recite a poem, I can tell a story, and I can swear an oath. I can report the facts or tell a lie, I can curse or bless, and I can gossip or praise. I can tattle and manipulate, comfort and encourage, discourage and confuse, compliment or insult… I can even pronounce someone dead (if I’m a doctor) or married (if I’m an officiant.)

It’s a long list. The power of the tongue is undeniable.

But all these things I use my words for can be boiled down to two basic options: I can tell the truth. Or I can lie.

Truth almost always brings healing, growth, and change for the better. Lies almost always wreak havoc, destruction, division, and chaos.

That’s a little oversimplified — truth, or partial truth, told with malicious intent can do as much damage as a lie, and a lie told in love may foster healing — but my point is that every time I open my mouth to speak, I have the option to do good or do bad.

I’m not sure I spend enough time contemplating my decisions before I speak.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Telling well-crafted lies can get me very far in this broken world. It can even exalt me to the presidency. Truth can seem to lose all value in such a place. But one day, the lies I have told will come back to haunt me. It may not be until Jesus, the Truth Himself, returns, but on that day, I will eat the dried-up, bitter fruit of all my deception.

On the contrary, if I choose to speak the truth in love, to encourage, to comfort, to stand firm in the facts, to beautify with honesty, to unite and clarify, the fruit I eat when Jesus returns will be juicy and sweet.

Dear God,

Forgive me for not being more careful with my words. Thank you for the reminder of how powerful they can be. Help me to heal any damage I have caused with lies or self-serving manipulations. Teach me the beauty of truth and kindness and fill me with the words you would have me use every time I open my mouth.

When was a child, my classroom had a globe. I remember spinning it around, seeing the names and shapes of far off places, and wondering what they were like.

I’ve been to many corners of that globe now, but a lot of the names and boundary lines have changed a few times over. I wonder what countries are listed on that old globe from my childhood? A globe is a fascinating snapshot in time and political history.

Some people collect old globes. They use the names of the countries to help determine the age of their antique. Does Bangladesh exist? If so, the globe was made after 1971. Is Turkey home to Istanbul or Constantinople (pre-1930)? Is Vietnam one or two countries (pre-1976)?

Since the very first globe was created, the actual land masses and bodies of water haven’t changed much. What changes, with regular frequency, are what we humans decide to call those land masses.

Sadly, the decision to change a name or border is often brought about by war.

But from God’s perspective, earth is all just one big world filled with His children. One day all our fighting over borders and names and ownership will end. God will put a stop to it.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the water covers the sea.”
‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬ ‭CSB‬‬

As God spoke through the prophet Habakkuk, one day God will erase all those boundary lines. There will be no more war or cause for war because His glory will fill the earth and everything in it. We will only be able to stand together in awe of His beautiful, brilliant love.

Dear God,

Thank you for your promise to end all war and fighting and greedy or fearful bickering over property, boundaries, and power. I know it breaks your heart to see how we treat each other because of arbitrary borders. I look forward to the day you fill the earth with the knowledge of your glory. Until then, teach me to live like there are no boundaries worth fighting over. Teach me instead to love all your children and to live generously, as if I already have an inkling of your glory.

My dog, Rocky, has a lot of funny quirks. For example, he sneezes when he is excited. And he will only poop in bushes. Modest, I guess. And he loves to hunt lizards by pouncing on low-growing shrubs to scare them out.

Rocky also loves to back into me with his tail wagging so that it thwaps me in the legs. I think he likes to know that I am there. If I move away while he’s doing this, he will adjust his position so his tail is once again thwapping me. And his tail is very sturdy. It can knock drinks off the coffee table. His thwapping can be a lot to take. I put up with it because he seems comforted by it.

Sometimes you just want to know you’re not alone.

“Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I love this well-known verse. I have recited it many times in the dark of night and in the low, lonely moments.

I love knowing that I am never truly alone. My loving, all-powerful God is everywhere. There is no place I can go where He’s not already there.

And when I need reassurance, God often reveals His presence to me if I’m looking for it and seek it out. He reveals His protection, comfort, and guidance to me the way a shepherd uses a rod and a staff, with a gentle nudge or purposeful tap.

When I was recovering from brain surgery, God reminded me of His presence with the iridescent glint of a hummingbird’s throat. When I was reeling from the death of my sister, God came to me again and again with the joyful and captivating songs of a mockingbird. When I learned of my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, He filled my office window with brilliant crape myrtle blossoms saying, “I’m here.”

When my dog needs to know I’m there, he backs into me with a wagging tail. If I back into God with my tail wagging, I will always find Him right here beside me.

Dear God,

Thank you for your promise never to leave me or forsake me. I’m so grateful that you are always here with me. Always. And I’m relieved that you make your presence clear to me when I need you most. Open my eyes and ears to your presence today.

When I was in my 20s, my parents came to visit me in my new home of Seattle. I planned several activities for us. One of them was a hike.

When I was in my 20s, my parents were middle aged. At the time I had very little clue about what that meant for them physically. They had always been active, so I chose a hike with a great view at the end even though it was strenuous. I did not take into consideration their aging knees, their travel-weary feet, or their out-of-practice lungs.

My parents were good sports though and plodded up the mountain with me. I strode ahead of them chatting, oblivious to their out-of-breath silence. Every so often I would stop and turn around to wait for them impatiently. When they asked to stop for a break I consented, of course, but reluctantly. I was eager to show them the view at the top.

We did manage to make it to the top to enjoy the view. And I think they really did enjoy it too, but I’m not sure it was worth the misery I put them through getting there.

Now that I am middle aged, I realize how hard that hike must have been for them. I was a terrible guide.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Unlike me, Jesus is a great leader. A loving shepherd. He may be excited to show me a great view up ahead, but He knows how weak I am and takes that into consideration. He knows I need rest and comfort and nourishing peace, so He builds them in to His plan for me. He even goes beyond my needs and provides beauty and kindness and gentle guidance.

Jesus is a good guide. A trustworthy and generous leader. I can count on Him to guide me on a hike through this life that is manageable, beautiful, exciting, peaceful, and just right for me. And I look forward to the great view at the end.

Dear God,

Thank you for being the best guide through this life. If I follow you and listen to your wisdom, I can be assured of quiet waters and green pastures when I need them. Help me stay on your righteous path. Nudge me back to your beautiful way when I wander off course.

I have been fortunate enough to see lions in the wilderness of Africa. For my husband’s 50th birthday, we flew to Botswana and stayed in three different safari camps. Each one was different (desert, forest, swamp), and in each place, we saw lions up close — from a jeep.

That “from a jeep” part is important. Our guide warned us to keep our arms and legs inside the jeep at all times.

“Just stay in the jeep!”

While we were in the jeep, he said we were safe even though the lions prowled and roared only a few feet away. This surprised me, but he said, to the lions, the jeep was just another big animal on the savanna, an animal that was sometimes noisy but never caused them any trouble. (Nothing was shot on these safaris other than photos.)

In the other hand, if I stepped out of the jeep, or even stretched a limb too far out past its silhouette, the lions would suddenly notice me as a separate animal. A weak and defenseless creature, one that could easily become a delicious meal.

“Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Jesus is my jeep. When I’m out roaming the world, if I stick close to Him, stay obediently within His guidelines, and faithfully listen to His voice, the devil will not be able to harm me. He will see Jesus and ignore me.

However, if I step away from Jesus, the devil takes notice. He licks his lips and starts planning ways to trip me up and take me down. And the farther he can lure me away from Jesus, the more precarious my situation.

Just stay in the jeep.

Dear God,

Thank you for being my jeep and protecting me from the devil, the proud, prowling lion of this world. Thank you for reminding me of his presence and his goals. Thank you also for reminding me of the power I have to resist him because of my faith in you. Please help me to stay alert and keep my hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

When I walk my dog, he gets excited and agitated by things I can’t sense in any way. I definitely can’t smell what he smells, and I probably can’t hear the same things either. Often, as we are walking, he suddenly doubles back urgently. Something there smells so intriguing! If I allow it, he may spend a few minutes sniffing the area inch by inch and over again. I stand there and wonder what he smells and why it’s so interesting.

Meanwhile, I smell nothing in particular.

Besides what my dog smells, there are other things in this life that I can’t sense. God says they are very important. More important than all the things I can see, hear, and smell.

In order to know what those important things are, I need to stay close to God, to listen for His voice, and watch as He works in the world around me. To learn about the unseen world, I need to stick close to and focus on the one with the keener senses.

“So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬ ‭CSB‬‬

God can see into people’s hearts. He knows who is vulnerable and hurting, who might need a kind and encouraging word from me. If I stay close to God, He’ll draw me to them.

God can see all of time — past, present, and future. He can see hidden dangers that I can’t. If I stay close to Him, He will protect me.

God can see into my own heart. He can see my faults and longings and worries. If I stay close to Him, He will pull me back from the brink of temptation and comfort me in my anxious moments.

Dear God,

Teach me not to rely more on my own senses than I rely on you. I know you can see all that is important, but I can only see what is here and now in my physical world — and not even all of that! Remind me how limited I am apart from you. Guide me toward your will and away from everything that is not part of your will for me.

I had a good friend in Seattle, before I moved away, who was not a follower of Jesus. One rainy day we were chatting in a coffee shop, and the subject of religion came up. I’d known her a while and had never had an in-depth conversation with her about God or her beliefs; I just knew she wasn’t a Christian.

I sensed my opportunity to witness to her about Jesus — perhaps my one and only opportunity, so I was nervous. I didn’t have much experience talking about my beliefs or why I believe them.

I began by saying I believe God created humans to have a loving relationship with Him, but we rebelled, greedily trying to snatch control and power. He let us live with those consequences for a long time (death being the chief consequence), until one day He enacted His rescue plan. He sent His son Jesus to die in everyone’s place. Because of that, I can skirt past the consequence of my sin simply by repenting of my sin and accepting Jesus as my Savior. I can now have that loving relationship with God that He intended from the start for all eternity.

My friend listened to my speil patiently.

Then she said, “That’s nice, but I’m a pretty good person. I haven’t done anything so bad that I need a savior.”

I said, “Any sin, big or small, is enough to take us away from God.”

She still insisted she wasn’t guilty of “sin.”

We went in circles like that a bit. I couldn’t convince her she needed help or forgiveness. So Jesus’s gift was meaningless to her.

“We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Every person, aside from Jesus, who ever existed since creation is guilty. We have all gone astray. We have all turned to our own way — self-serving since birth. It’s not a matter of being a “good person”, obeying laws, following social conventions, trying to be kind most of the time, etc.

We may not recognize our need, like my friend, or like a sheep busily grazing in its green pasture, but the need is there, and it is glaring. There is a wolf, and there are cliffs, and there will be droughts and storms and other sheep to contend with. In the face of my needy and greedy flesh, the taunting of the devil, scarcity of resources, and all manner of troubles and challenges that I will encounter, there is no possible way for me, or anyone, to be perfect the way Jesus was.

Hence my need for Jesus to be perfect for me.

Dear God,

Thank you for your patience with me. I’m sure I’m not even aware of half the sins I commit over the course of a day — things I’ve done or left undone. I know I can’t earn your love by being good. My good isn’t so great, and it certainly isn’t perfect. Thank you for providing a way out of my mess. Thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place so I can inherit His perfection and call it my own.