Skip to main content

It Scared Me and I’m Afraid of Nothing



    Between 1875 to 1883, a professional thief known as Black Bart held a reign of terror for stagecoaches from northern California to Oregon.  He was responsible for at least 29 different robberies.  In all his robberies, Black Bart never had to fire a shot; he was only assaulted once beside when he was finally caught.  Most everyone was too afraid to dare to fight back against the notorious crook.  The fear of this notorious bandit was enough for most folks to hand over their valuables. The myth of Black Bart was in the end just that, a myth.  The man that all the people feared was a failed miner from Decatur, Illinois.  He arrived at his robberies on foot because he was terrified of horses.  In the end, He never fired his gun because he never had ammunition.  He was too afraid to load his gun.

    Fear causes people to do strange things.  It can cause some to give over their valuables to a man with a gun, even if that gun has no bullets.  It can convince us to choose popularity over our integrity.  It can force us to accept lies rather than the truth.  It can keep us from standing for what’s right because others tell us it’s wrong.  It can keep us from speaking to a friend who needs salvation because of the rejection we may experience.  Fear can have the power to control us without any real means to do so.  Fear’s power is only given to it. It has power only if we let it.

     That is why we should only let fear have its proper place. It is natural to have some fear but knowledge overcomes fear.  If the victims had known the real man behind the mask, do you think Black Bart would have ever robbed a stagecoach?  Jesus warned us to only fear what really capable of doing lasting damage (Matthew 10:28).  Satan will use our fear to imprison us in a paper cage if we let him.  Think about what we fear most, has God not given us a way to overcome these things?  Hebrews 13:6 tells us “so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

    What do you live in fear of?  Has God made a promise about that? Don’t let you fear keep you from faith in God.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right to Arm Bears

  In the book of 2 nd Kings 2, we have one of the most unusual, violent and curious passages in scripture. It involves the prophet Elisha siccing a couple of bears on some kids that were mocking his bald head.    As a guy that is a little light on top that has been around some surly kids, I can feel for the guy. But seriously a bear attack? On kids? What is going on? ….young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!"  When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. 2 nd Kings 2:23-25  It might help to explore the passage a bit more. The baldhead statement: This was an identifying mark of the prophet as opposed to Elijah who was hairy (1st Kings 1:8) a jab to say you are not him. The taunt to go up: Elijah has just been taken into heaven by the Lord a sight seen by ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mighty Gulf

  It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding.  To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two.   Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God?   In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...
Post a Comment
Read more