Do Not Fear

rock-that-is-higher-than-iLiving in the Spirit
October 31, 2016

Scripture Reading: Haggai 2:1-9

Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. –Haggai 2:3-5

Democracy is messy. Trying to negotiate agreement on best practices is difficult. Change is hard. We live in a challenging world, and as members of that world, we choose to function within a system of governance that requires our full participation. It gets uglier at some times than at other. In history, we read of the scandals of Tammany Hall in the 1780’s recurring in the 1920’s and muckraking of the 1890’s. Not having experienced them, they are not as real to us as the current political situations. They were probably just as bad.

The week before the general election in the USA is a good time to be reminded that we serve an awesome God who abides among us. God created this earth out of chaos and can surely rescue us from our self-created calamity if we abide in God. Being in a relationship with God does require self-introspection. Some, perhaps much, of our fretting and fears comes from our clinging to things of this world that have little or no relevance in God’s Kingdom. Parsing out what is of God and discerning what kind of nation we want to be is important . Not forcing our beliefs on others but letting God’s plan for our lives direct our way of being are reflected in our actions as citizens.

Prayer: Lord, cleanse me of all that inhibits my living your love in all that I do including my role as a citizen of this nation. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.