Our Always Ally

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear and champions faith in God. It discusses the importance of being honest and open about our beliefs, even when it's harder to do so with people close to us. It emphasizes that morality is not based on feelings, but on conscious decisions and choices. It encourages standing on the truth of God's word, regardless of societal changes or personal experiences. It uses the example of smoking to illustrate that personal beliefs or experiences do not change the truth of a matter. Ultimately, it highlights the importance of following God's moral path for righteousness and blessings. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Matthew 10.31 Therefore, don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone, therefore, who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Once we are looking at the things of heaven more than the things of earth, we have a choice to make. Do we try and keep it all hidden, or are we willing to be honest and open in front of others? If that doesn't seem like a hard question, consider what you would be more willing to do. Travel to another city and tell people about Jesus, or go to your neighborhood and tell people about Jesus. Most of us would pick another city. It's easy to spread the word or stand up for something we believe, far away from those who know us. It's harder to witness to those who are close to us, because they see us almost daily, and we have to look at them after we've spoken. Whether that means we feel embarrassed over what things we do, or whether that means we're kind of bummed we have to walk what we talk to be effective. I don't know. Maybe a little of both? It's easier to take a stance on politics or how we raise our kids than it is to stand on a moral issue. It's even easier if the moral issue we're standing on isn't because of morals. Without any commentary, take abortion as an example. You can stand for or against it because of free choice for women, consequences of rape, medical emergencies, or protection of life from conception because you're defending those who cannot defend themselves. All those have many talking points. Many different people in the world would support those points. But before or against abortion on a purely moral platform, that it is either right or wrong because of morality, because of the standard of righteousness, and we tend to keep our mouths shut, usually because of the barrage of comments that would be flung at us. As human beings, it's okay to say something for a worldly reason, but not for a moral reason. People love to say morals are fluid, that they are a product of your upbringing or environment, that not everyone feels that way, that although there are some things people as a whole can agree on, many things most feel are horrific are okay in some other societies, like cannibalism. Professionals love to talk about personal perspective and perception, that something can be true if it even seems true to you, even if others don't perceive it the same way. Take believing that you have terrible and abusive parents who, in fact, are simply forcing you to go to school or to miss out on a party for family game night. As a whole, we also like to say that while Group A might believe something, Groups B and C don't, and they are just as valid as Group A, so everyone needs to give everyone else space. This becomes a huge issue if Group A believes homosexuality is so wrong that they won't provide a wedding cake to a homosexual couple in Group B even though Group A is running an open-to-the-general-public bakery. When it comes to morality and moral conduct, not everyone agrees. So what to do? Well, before you even approach this issue, you have to realize something. Feelings aren't real. Emotions are real. Emotions are a response to stimuli, and they include feelings, but emotions are also above feelings in that they can be programmed by our spirit, by our mind, by how we've been taught. Feelings are simply data. They are input sensations. They are not emotions. They are the same category as touch, sight, and smell. Something is cold because you touch it and feel the absence of warmth. Somewhere is dark because you experience the absence of light. Something is sad because you feel sadness. Something is cheerful because you feel happy. But what if you made a choice against that feeling? What if someone treated you a certain way, but you decided not to get angry? You felt anger there. You felt hurt or offended because of their behavior, but instead of accepting the angry feeling, you chose not to let it become an emotion. What if you chose to smile and let them have their opinion, stance, or behavior? What if you chose to reject the feeling and decide to experience a different emotion? It is possible. Take love. Love is not a feeling. Passion is a feeling. Romance is a feeling. Tingly bits are a feeling. Love is not. Love is a decision. It is a choice. If you choose to love a person, it won't matter what they do or say. You will love them. It doesn't mean you will live with them or let them do things to you that are wrong, but you will choose to love them. You will love them. Your feelings will fluctuate because feelings are a response to stimuli. What they say or do will give you feelings, but you can reject them and decide to love anyway. Again, it doesn't mean you need to be unsafe. To feel the emotion of love on purpose, no matter what, is a choice. To act toward that person with love, regardless of how you feel, because you have chosen love. Now, when we realize this principle and we apply it, which you must do consciously, feelings are unconscious. Emotions are always from intention. Emotions are always chosen. When we realize and apply this to our lives, we won't let feelings dictate the morals that we choose. We will be standing by choice. We will be deciding on moral behavior, not because of a temporary feeling, but because of a reason, which also means we won't get offended or upset at people because they have other beliefs, because of how they make us feel. Do you hate what they do or say? Does it make you mad, sad, disgusted? So what? That's just feelings. Ignore them and act according to love, according to your morals, according to what you know, not what you feel. Morality and moral conduct don't rely on feelings, but on decisions. They won't make us treat someone differently than anyone else. That is also a choice. Morality and moral conduct rely on the decisions we make and the choices we make, the universal truth that we either reject or accept. You see, Jesus acted according to morality. He had a stance, and he didn't fluctuate from it. But he ate with people that the Pharisees considered sinners. The Pharisees ignored those people. The Pharisees let their feelings dictate their behavior. Jesus chose to behave in and from love, but he still had a moral stance, and it didn't fluctuate. You brought something up, he would tell you the truth. But he did it in love, and he accepted people in love regardless of how he felt. If we are not acting according to feeling, well, then how do we, in fact, act? Well, Jesus, who lived this way, says, take a stance, Romans 12, 1-2. Don't be afraid, and don't back down. Why? Because if you're standing on the word, not a whim or a feeling, not just a single verse out of context with Scripture, backed up by other Scripture, and in accordance with the will of God, then you are telling truth. Not a single truth, not truth as perceived by you, which can be different for someone else, but truth. This is what Jesus did. He did it out of love, but he stood on truth. Truth is true. If it's true, it's true, period. No matter who is in office, what laws are on the books, or what society does or doesn't accept, it doesn't change over decades of social change. It isn't suddenly in fashion or a product of its time. What people refer to as our truth or my truth are either our own personal beliefs or our own personal experiences. They are true things that have happened to us, but they are not truth. Now, take smoking. That's an example we can understand. It is not a moral issue. It is a health issue. It damages those who participate and those around them through secondhand smoke. You can still do it. You can even say that you smoked for decades. You can say that so far nothing has happened to you. But you can't say that your truth is that smoking doesn't kill because the truth is that smoking is harmful and smoking kills. Whether it does it in every instance or not, many of us have had a grandparent who does an impression of a chimney and lasts far into their 80s or 90s and sometimes beyond. But their experiences, even many experiences like them, doesn't make it the truth. It makes it real for some, a true experience for some, but not truth. The truth is smoking is harmful and smoking kills, period. Morals work the same way, same principle. The Lord God laid down the moral truth of righteous living, not on a whim, not because he wanted to see a certain set of behavior or not. He did it because he is righteousness. He laid down the things that need to be done in order to live righteously, to be like him, period. He did not demand we follow it. He asked us to. He invited us to. He told us where the fence was, and that's it. And he still does that to this day. We have the choice to follow his true moral path and we have the choice not to. His morals will save and bring blessing, period. Being immoral is harmful and kills, period. The human experience, the stories we claim is our truth, fall somewhere in between those two things. The human experience is real. It is our truth. But it is not true. We can claim a lot of things are good. The criteria we base that on, though, is human perspective, social acceptance. It doesn't make it true, only true for us from an experiential point of view. Only when those things we do and say line up with his independent and absolute truth are they truly good and true. Everything but God's absolute truth is a false experience, regardless of whether we have honestly experienced it, felt it, believe it, or agree with it. Only truth is true. That can be a scary realization and it has far-reaching consequences. Hebrews 4.12 Jesus calls us not to fear, John 16.33, and to choose to follow him, John 7.37-38. Not just follow, but to declare to others that he is real, moral, righteous, worthy, and the only one who saves or can save us. This is an eternal issue, not a temporal one. When our flesh dies, we continue to live. At the beginning of that eternal and never-ending life, we stand before the Father who will toss us into darkness or welcome us into life. Where we go is dependent on whether Jesus claims us or denies us. Whether Jesus does that depends on whether we're born again and declaring him or rejecting him here in this life. This is not a threat. This is not a, you'd better, you're going to hell thing. This is a Jesus-made-the-way-to-be-with-God thing. Jesus loves us. God loves us. They don't want to be without us, ever. If we proclaim Jesus, Jesus will proclaim us. That is awesome. That is a joyous promise, even if the opposite is also true. This is a positive promise and it should be shared as such. Eternally, Jesus will take care of us. We have more value than mere physical things. We might see our circumstances or what our circumstances might be if we say that God's way is the truth and the right way to live. But don't fear. Don't let worry consume your life. Sparrows face predators, starvation, injury, and death on a daily basis, but they still go about their business. They don't let anxiety over what is going to happen or what is happening prevent them from living their life. God can let them do their thing even as He watches each one. How much more does He treat us? How much more value do we have? Animals have souls. They can experience pain. They can experience feelings, but they aren't in the same class as us. We are made in the image of God, Genesis 1.26. We are made with care and intensity, Psalm 139.14. We are spirit beings and we were made by His hands, Psalm 119.73 and Ephesians 2.10. We are unique among creation under the watchful eye of the Almighty God because He loves us, Jeremiah 29.11. We are unique among creation because whether we believe Him or not, follow Him or reject Him, love Him or hate Him, we are all, each and every human being ever, all called to be with Him in service of love, 1 Peter 2.9. Isn't that a lot more than the care and affection He has for the animal kingdom and all other creation? We are special. We are loved. That's why Jesus came. That's why He volunteered for the job. Don't deny Jesus. If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is our Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead after He died for our sin and all sin, we are saved, Romans 10.8-11. If we believe, it shouldn't stay locked up, Luke 11.33. If our eyes have been opened to the gift of Jesus, we will naturally want to make Him smile, to live the way He says we should live, to reject sin, no matter how we feel about any given act, item, or behavior. Because it is unrighteous, we reject it. To choose to move toward being righteous in all things, not just our spirit. To choose to be sanctified, 1 Corinthians 6.11. Because it is offered to us by grace, by His sacrifice, Titus 3.5. And to be part of the sanctification process, Philippians 1.6 and Hebrews 2.11. This is more important than whether we are liked, whether we are called bigots or terfs, whether we are considered allies or traitors, and whether we are liked or hated. Jesus does not call us to be bigots, or racists, or persecutors. Jesus calls us to love one another, regardless of how we feel, John 13.34. And regardless of what they call you. We are called to model Jesus' love and total acceptance of each other, 1 John 2.6, total acceptance. We are also called to state the truth, Ephesians 4.25. But to speak only with love, Ephesians 4.15. That means telling God's truth, not cramming it down someone's throat, or demanding that they behave like we want them to, or think they should, or treat them differently if they're not believing, or behaving like we want them to, or think they should. We are called to love and walk along with His morals, Psalm 128. All of them, not just the ones we agree with. But don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Be upstanding. Be righteous. Don't shove your beliefs down anyone's throat. Don't judge others. But share the truth with them in love. The only truth. God's truth. As Jesus wants us to. As His word directs us to. As Holy Spirit leads us to. John 16.13 and Luke 12.12. Jesus loves us all. Spread that word today. Spread the love of Jesus. Spread the truth that we never need to be apart from Him. That Jesus and the Father and Holy Spirit have made a way for us to be with Him. Spread that word today. Be an ally with eternity. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Romans 10.1-21. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves everyone. The sound of that love is our words. Words in earnest and idle words. Every word is a seed. Every word that comes out of our mouth. Our words need to echo His sound of love. Our sound needs to travel to the whole earth. Every corner, crack, and cranny. Why? Because Jesus wants everyone to know the word of the Lord. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace. And who bring tidings of good things. Verse 15. God loves when you talk about Him. He loves when you share Him with honesty, tenderness, and peace. One heart to another. In love. Because of love. He is love. Love alongside Him today. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I... Now you fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you. Just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us. By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent His only born Son into the world. That we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we loved God. But that He loved us. And sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.