Hold on Tight

Have you ever noticed that life is a lot like a roller coaster ride?   You spend years notching up for it, anticipating, waiting, kind of knowing what’s in store because you’ve watched others go around on the coaster.  As you get close to the top of the coaster, you start yelling, “Can’t turn back now boys!”  and then you hang at the top for just a brief second and all of a sudden, you’re holding on for dear life!  There are tons of twists and turns and rises and drops and you are moving so fast, you can only see what’s coming right in front of you, all the while anticipating the next big drop.   Your blood pumps faster, adrenaline races and without really meaning to, you hear yourself screaming at the top of your lungs.  And then, you come into another long climb.  Your heart slows down a bit, but now that you know what is in store, you realize that the climb is really only a catch your breath place.  It’s a little relief before you go into part two of the ride.  The ominous clack, clack, clack of the chain below you tells you that you’re  in for another gut-wrenching series of twists and turns.  You’re up and over the top, tossed to the left, then slammed to the right. Now your stomach is in your throat and now it’s in your toes and just as suddenly, it’s over.   And when your body fully understands that you’ve actually survived, and a rush of adrenaline and relief washes over you, then you are suddenly free to enjoy the ride.

What a tragedy!  What a tragedy that we have to go all the way through life, anxious and worrying over every last thing only to look back and say, “that wasn’t so bad.”

That’s how many of us approach life, isn’t it?  Everything we see on TV, everything we hear in the news, our conversations, just everything around us causes us to go OH, OH, OH as we anticipate the absolute worst outcome possible.  We wring our hands in anxiety and as all the stimuli hits us, we just freak out.   We’re ready to run for the hills.  And we live our lives on this knife edge of worry, just knowing that it’s going to be horrible and our lives are constantly filled with sheer terror as we  think about the twists, turns and drops ahead.  And again, we can’t really enjoy it until it’s over.  That’s tragic.

 But I want you to notice something.  When  we accepted Christ, Romans 8 tells us that we are to have a different spirit.

Romans 8: 15 "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

In other words, you are in the Father’s care, so there is nothing to fear.  Over and over again Jesus told his disciples not to fear.  Over and over He faced stuff that freaks us out, even death on a cross, without ever fearing.  He looked at the worst we had to offer in this world with complete peace in His heart.  We look at far less and freak.

Don’t believe me?  What happens in your heart when I say: “close of probation” or “time of trouble”?   Or what about “seven last plagues” or “mark of the beast” or “one world order”?    If you are typical, a little bit of fear starts to grip your heart.  Now what about these?  $5 per gallon gasoline.  Terrorist threats to Atlanta.  Hurricanes, Tornadoes, floods.  Faltering economy. How about Recession or Economic  Depression?  Or Presidential Election?

Now we’re on the roller coaster.  Our fears run off the charts.  And we have people who prey on those fears.  You need an alarm system.  You need more insurance.  You should sell everything you have and run to mountains.  And if you can’t do anything else, wring your hands in anguish. Have you ever noticed that people come out of the woodwork to heighten your fears?  You can’t even open your email now without someone forwarding something that freaks you out.  People in the back seat with a gun. Waking up with your kidney’s gone and you are packed in ice in a bathtub with a cryptic message on the mirror of the bathroom. Crooks getting in on the other side of your car while you are pumping gas and ripping you off. Cell phones igniting gas fumes.  And by the way, that one is true.

And while we must practice common sense and seek to be as safe as possible, fear can actually rip the guts out of you and keep you from enjoying the one life you have.  All you can do is moan or scream for the whole ride.

Listen to what Jesus said: John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Listen, if you have someone trying to scare you into something, it is not from God.  Jesus never preyed on the fears of people to get them to do right.  Jesus never tried to change people with stories designed to freak them out.  He always used a path of love and only wanted us to respond out of love.  Never out of fear or alarmism.

Even if people are professing to share with you the signs of the times we live in, if they are appealing to your fearful, sensational side, it is not from God, it is from their fearful, sensational side.

Jesus told us what was to come, but then he said, John 16:33   “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Some of us  are so taken in by this fear thing, that we can’t even hear the words of Jesus, much less apply them to our lives.  We focus on sign watching, and we see a shadow behind every bush and quite frankly, that’s because there is one.  But what we fail to realize is that in order to get the shadow on one side of the bush, the sun has to be shining on the other side.  Quit looking at the shadows all the time.  Quit freaking out over every last thing that happens in this world.  Let me help you out with this signs of the end thing.

Go to Matthew 24 verses 3-14 3   As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”  4   Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.  5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.  9   “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,  11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,  13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus goes on in the rest of the chapter to outline other signs and things that would happen.  Did you know that every last one of these things has already found fulfillment except one?  Did you know they have all come to pass except one?  And that one is the one we spend very little time worrying about.  That one is the one we actually jump over most of the time.  That one is the one we really don’t notice, but it is the final one that needs to be fulfilled.  It’s in verse 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Get off of the sign watching.  They’ve already happened!  Every new one that comes along is simply a fulfillment of what has already happened.  Of course we’re living in the end times.  Of course Jesus is coming soon.  Of course things are winding down and if we are reading Jesus’ words here correctly, will get really bad before it’s over.  But that isn’t a reason to freak out and wring your hands anxiously.  Instead it’s a call to trust.  A call to hang on to the promises of Jesus that he will be with you to the very end of the age.  He’s your safety bar on the roller coaster of your life.  Hang on tight and enjoy the ride.

You’re going to have trouble.  You’re going to have a rough ride.  But if you learn to trust in Jesus, you are prepared for whatever comes and you are then free to enjoy the ride.  See, the disciples were not truly free to live, until they faced the fact that they could die, but that was ok, because there was a resurrection and they, like Jesus, couldn’t be held down.  The grave was not final.  When they got ahold of that, it freed them to live bold lives in the face of persecution and death.  It can free us to live bold lives and bring hope in the midst of an economic downturn or scary times in our history.  We don’t have to be overcome by a world that Jesus has already told us that he has over come.  Hold on tight to the peace that Jesus gives and then enjoy the ride!

Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.  Safety consists not in the absence of danger but in the presence of God.

May you bask in His presence (and safety) today.