Faith Over Fear

A couple of weeks back, I told my girlfriend of a Year and a month that we needed to break it off. The relationship was good, yet I felt like I was getting in the way of her relationship with God. John 3:16 says that "God sooooooooo loved the WORLD(us), that He gave his one and ONLY son, so that we would not perish BUT have eternal life (emphasis added). Of course I loved my girlfriend, but if I really loved her, I wouldn't hold her back from a better relationship with Jesus Christ!!

How does that compare to John 3:16? Well, I LOVED HER, first of all. Second thing is, God came down to Earth as Jesus to sacrifice himself for the very people He loved so much. I gave up my relationship with her so that she can know Him just as Jesus gave his life to know me. Sacrificial love right? And whether it is sacrificing yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, it is a BRUTAL YET BEAUTIFUL RESEMBLANCE OF YOUR FAITH!

It's scary. Suddenly the girl I wanted to marry one day became a memory. Feelings were crazy and I was unsure of everything! I asked myself questions like, "what am I doing after college?" or "what kind of girl is right for me?" and even "did I lose the only girl that was 'perfect' for me?"

 As we follow Christ we will suffer. It is necessary! In the book of James it says:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-4

What the heck? Joy? There is NO joy whatsoever in trials! Crazy right? But, look at this!

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, Romans 5:3-4

So this is telling me that I should take joy in my sufferings, because it produces endurance; the endurance of my FAITH in Jesus Christ. Then, that endurance will produce character! Why? Because, after my faith is SO strong, I will rely that much more, ONLY on Jesus. My character will become more like his! And I will walk more by faith than by sight! Then it goes to say that character produces hope. Hope that through all of this suffering that when the angels come to take me to the promised land that I will stand face to face with the God of the universe and He shakes his head telling me, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

If we have been CRUCIFIED with Christ, why do we always see the brighter side of the cross? Jesus died for us and our sins and He rose giving us new lives! We are now forgiven! But don't you remember what Jesus did to even get to the cross? He carried it on his back, after getting brutally beaten nearly to death. Jesus KNEW that he would get hurt, He KNEW that he would die. 

As we walk by our faith and follow Christ's footsteps, we will have to make risky, sacrificial decisions that will hurt us. It sucks and it's not fun. Nobody said that being a Christian would be easy! GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD that He sacrificed His Son. What is the job of a Christian? To follow Jesus! His lifestyle, his love, his patterns, his EVERYTHING!

This trial will not last, and it will not get to me, only because I know that God is making a way.

For I am sure that neither DEATH nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

I broke it off, not because of my love for her, BUT my love for Jesus! Which in fact produces love for her(John 13:35). He promises me that nothing will separate me from His love! Neither DEATH or life! Death comes after suffering, which Jesus has conquered by rising in three days! So if Jesus lives withing us, why do we even FEAR these trials!? READ THIS:

There is NO fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:18-19

Romans 5:3-5 concludes with, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

His love is there. Its all around. He suffered so much just to prove the point that He loves us. We must suffer because it is promised, and it comes through the love God has given us. As for trials, WHY FEAR? There is NO FEAR IN LOVE! God will take care of us! God has promised to shape you up through the suffering and sharpen your faith! We KNOW where we are going, and we should REJOICE in our sufferings!

There is purpose in pain. 

Faith/Fear.