When I was five or six years old, I, like most kids, had fears to conquer. Mine was due to seeing a movie a little earlier than I should have. That movie was Stephen King’s “The IT.” It was a terrifying movie about a clown. After watching this movie, I had constant nightmares, and as a result I developed a fear of clowns. My mom, realizing this fear had such a grip on me would every night before bed read Psalm 91:1-6 to me. Honestly, I never really understood why this was so comforting. I just thought it was because my mom was showing care for my situation. However, now that I’m older, and hopefully just a little wiser, I understand more why those verses meant so much to me.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
God is my refuge and my fortress! He is my protector. He is always with me. Those verses speak to a greater love than anyone can fathom. He is a protector like no other.
I shared that story because we all have fears, and we all have worries. Some are watching the news, and paying attention to the political situation, and who’s being elected, and rendered so terrified that it causes you to be fueled by fear. I understand that the climate we’re in is changing rapidly. And I’m not telling you to turn a blind eye to what is around you. On the contrary, you should know what is happening. You should be informed. You should be able to make decisions. You should vote for the ones that you believe in. What you shouldn’t do is get so caught up in what’s happening around the world so much that you lose sight of the hope that you have in the gospel.
The gospel should motivate us to live like no one else. It should make you live with hope that no one can understand. Why? Because it points back to Christ. It says, “I have hope that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and because of that I have a future!” My hope is in heaven and that Jesus Reigns forever. It matters who is elected, but your hope is not in who is elected, or what’s happening overseas or how much money you’re making etc.. Yes, I’m aware things are changing and it is scary. We must choose to live differently. Choose to live in light of the Gospel. The gospel saved my life. The gospel changed my life. If that is true of you, live in light of that so that others may see and wonder why. And when they ask, be ready to tell them why.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” – Ephesians 2:1-8.
North Bullitt Christian Church 