Fear – Page 2 – Three Minute Bible

April 6, 2019April 6, 2019

Fear – John 12: 46

Fear: Man running from light into darkness

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Why would anyone want to stay in darkness? I can think of one reason: They don’t want to be seen.

And why would someone want to avoid being seen: Maybe because they don’t want to get caught doing what they are doing?

To believe in the light is to want to be in the light. Not everyone who wants to be in the light can be. In Jesus’ day, slavery was rampant. The Jews themselves were subject to the Romans. Lives were difficult and physically demanding. Achieving wealth was possible only for the very few. Today we live in a deeply divided world. Not only are we divided by wealth into the haves and have nots, but we are divided by our fears.

Those who live in the darkness of their fears are sometimes trapped by those fears. Some want to get out. Some believe in the fear.

Jesus offers us an alternative to fear. It is as simple as believing in Jesus. When that happens, the light breaks in and the darkness starts to fade.

March 11, 2019March 10, 2019

Rare Flower – John 11: 49-52

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ”You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

It is interesting to me how our reasoning works when survival is at stake. The Pharisees were afraid. They were afraid that Jesus would trigger some event that would cause the Romans to “take away their temple and their nation.” They believed that their survival was on the line.

It is important to note here that their fears were only fears. They could not know what would happen. The future is always a blank page. We do not know what will happen until after the day has passed. Yet even though their fear is one possibility out of millions of things that could happen, it seems real to them. So real that it must be avoided at all cost. Even the cost of a man’s life.

December 13, 2018December 12, 2018

Without Fear

In verses 69-71 (“Horn of Salvation”) we looked at the difference between how the Israelites viewed their enemies and who God sees as the real “enemy.” In this passage, Zechariah returns to that same theme but here he explains the reason why this is important.

…the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Luke 1: 73-75

To serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness is a picture of great beauty.