I don’t know if you’re like me or not, but I sometimes find myself viewing my shortcomings as though they were each independent acts. Like a truck pulls out in front of me on Highway 34, and I blow the horn and shake my fist at him (and maybe add an unkind word or two), and I surmise that the cause of my sin was my failure to reign my emotions in. Or maybe I obsess about what kind of car my neighbor has and I resent him because it’s newer and fancier than mine. I figure that my greed is at the root of that sin.
But what if sin isn’t just a collection of independent acts? What is all sin springs from one source? If so, what would the origin of all sin be? It would be simple to lay the blame for sin on something like lust or hatred. But is that the case? Like, “Today, my lust got the better of me, but yesterday it was hatred.”
I think, after a lot of soul-searching about my own short-comings, that I have an answer. Most of my sin is born our my fear. Raw, pure, gut-wrenching, fear. I’m sure of.
You might recall the rich man who, upon leaving for a trip, entrusted some money to his servants. One man received five talents, the second received two, and the third one got only one. While he was away the five and two talent men invested their money wisely and doubled it. The one talent man, however, buried his in the ground. Do you remember the excuse he offered for failing to invest his money as the others had done? He said that, simply put, he was afraid.
So let’s take this man’s fearful reluctance to act on his master’s expectations as a springboard for our discussion. What about us? Does fear keep us from acting on our Father’s expectations?
Well, to begin with, what else would explain our reluctance to obey our heavenly father? Take greed for example. In spite of the fact that the Bible is full of directives to avoid the love of money and instead trust God to supply our needs, too many of us find ourselves worrying about how we’re going to pay the bills. It keeps us up at night. At the same time, the desire for more and more “things” dominates our thoughts and feelings until we go out and buy more, going more in debt to do so. Rather than sharing with those in need, we horde it stingily, fearful that God would not come through on his promise if it came down to it.
The question is, if we were confident in the truth of God’s spoken word, why would we do that? If God commanded me to be satisfied with what I have, why would I turn around and pile up more monthly payments that put even more stress on me?
Or take sexual impurity for example. God’s word instructs me to take satisfaction in the wife of my youth. Yet, how many times are all men tempted by other women? More to the point, how many men and women have broken their marriage covenant and engaged in sexual impurity with someone else?
I would suggest to you that in both cases, those of us who fall into these traps are hearing the voice of the Evil One whispering in our ears, “If you don’t go for it, you’re going to miss out.” In our rational minds, we know the fallacy of that argument. We see the fruits of disobedience to God in those areas in the lives of others, but we are so afraid that God can’t be trusted, or that he’s holding out on us, or that we can’t pull it off, or that we aren’t getting any younger. I find myself thinking, especially when I pull out one of those old photographs from 1972 and realize that my virility and youth are not just waning, but have almost disappeared entirely, that I don’t have much time left to enjoy this life.
Do you think that the drug addict or alcoholic doesn’t know that he’s destroying his body? Of course he does, but there is a fear so deeply rooted in his heart that he isn’t even consciously aware of it, that God’s not really going to come through for him, so he has to take matters into his own hands and buy another bottle or score another hit. It’s as if he’s saying, “The ecstacy that I get from these chemicals is the only pure joy I will ever feel.” He wants heaven, but he fears that he will never get it.
On the one hand, God promises to wash away every guilt and give my life meaning and purpose, while on the other hand, I’m worried that he won’t. That’s when I cross the line and begin to live my life by my own power.
So what do I do with this fear?
To begin with, you and I have a decision to make. That is, am I going to live by my flesh – doing what feels good to me, or am I going to live by the Spirit? In other words, am I just going to go with the flow. Is it like what Freddy Mercury said in Bohemian Rhapsody, “Any way the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me!” Just live and let live! Do your own thing!
That’s one way to do it, and if that’s the way you are living, you’ve already made the decision – everybody has. But God’s way contrasts with flesh-life – it is spirit-led life. It’s about God giving direction to my life. I hear his voice and obey it. At least that’s my goal, if I’m led by the spirit.
That’s what Paul was discussing in Romans 8. If I’m not led by the flesh, I’m led by the Spirit. That’s a decision I make. It doesn’t just pop out of the sky and make us celestial robots. I consciously decide, “I’m going to listen to God and give his Spirit free reign in my life! I’m going to obey him! It’s not about my desires any longer, but about His.
Until you’ve made this declaration, you are unready for the most important part of Paul’s message – For we did not receive a spirit that makes us slaves again to fear, but we received the spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
Abba? An Aramaic term meaning something like “Daddy.”
The point is that fear, paralyzing fear that compels us to bury our talents and refuse to do the Master’s will in our lives, will only be cast down when we commit ourselves to walking by the Spirit of God rather than by the flesh. Until we do that, we will continue to be like Adam and Eve – whenever we hear the voice of God, we will cower in fear, attempt to run and hide, and wind up in a position far worse than the one we were in the beginning.
