Good morning, happy Monday, and happy New Year!!!
Hope your Christmas was wonderful and 2024 is off to a great start!
“Living in fear is just another way of dying before your time.”
– Mike Cooley, singer, songwriter
Over the coming weeks we will be providing lots of 2023 year-end data, charts, etc. but since today is New Year’s Day, I wanted to spend just a few minutes addressing something that really jumped out at me this Christmas.
In reviewing the Christmas story this year, I was stuck by how many times “Do not be afraid” appears.
God sends the angel Gabriel to Mary who says “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” (Luke 1:26-38)
Mary’s fiancée, Joseph, finds out Mary is pregnant and knows that is not his baby and is planning on bailing from the relationship when an angel shows up to him “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:18-25)
The night Jesus is born shepherds are minding their own business in the fields when angels show up. The Bible tells us “They were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people … ‘” (Luke 2:8-20)
It’s not just the Christmas story … “do not be afraid” appears 81 times and “fear not” appears 82 times (www.biblegateway.com search, NIV) so this is a very common theme throughout the entire Bible.
Why do you think God tells us (directly or through His angels or prophets) dozens if not hundreds of times to not be afraid?
Here’s the thing: fear robs of us joy! I don’t believe that we can be both joyful and fearful at the same time. These are enemies that are constantly at war in our mind.
Fear is a powerful emotion, but I believe joy is more powerful!
As the proverb goes “There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair, the other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? The one you feed.”
My friends, we live in a scary world, but that does not mean that we are to live in fear.
2,000 years ago the world was a scary place when Jesus came. 550 years ago the common consensus was the earth was flat, that’s scary. 120 years ago we were in World War 1 and 85 years ago we were deep in World War 2, talk about scary. Just over 61 years ago the USSR had nuclear weapons pointed to the U.S. during the Cuban Mistle Crisis, super scary. Just over 22 years ago we were attacked on 9/11, 15 years ago we were in the Great Recession, and a mere 8 years ago that “Baby Shark” song came out (that still gets stuck in my mind!) … scary stuff!
Here’s the thing, there will ALWAYS be things to scare us … there will ALWAYS be a reason to not invest … but that does not mean we should live in fear.
We most certainly CAN live in fear, but why would we WANT to do that?
In the first chapter of John we are told “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5). When we shine joy (light) into the world it drives out fear (darkness). Why would we live in the dark when we can live in the light?
My challenge for all of us, myself most certainly included, is to tackle this new year ahead with a sense of joy … let’s bring light into our world … if the world wants to live in darkness so be it, but we will be light!!!
It brings me great joy to partner with you and I am so looking forward to what 2024 brings! Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your journey!