Source of Fear |
Heb. 2:15 -Mankind, two kinds: one in bondage to death; the other, freed from bondage. Man is basically fearful of punishment and rejection. Before the fall, man was birthed from God's love, and into God's love, love that is uncaused, and man was embraced by God.
Guilt and Shame:
Gen. 3:10
-Fear began, lst emotion expressed. Saw self naked and self-conscious.
Prior to fall Adam saw himself thru and in and from the eyes of God. He was
God conscious, knew he was loved by God.
Upon fall, shame and guilt was immediate, mind became blinded. Adam at this point conceived that God no longer loved him. Instead of looking outward to God for identity, he looked inward to himself. Self became his focus, the self focus of man established. The self looking at self over against God.
Religion:
God placed His spirit within man, man knows there is someone greater beyond
himself, and must worship someone greater than himself.
Man must create a god outside of himself, creates one just like himself because he builds a god out of his own thoughts and imagination. Thus, he builds one who is disgusted with him, a god who hates him, one who says he is unlovable, a god who rejects him, who hates all bad people.
Afraid of God, Adam hides behind the tree. Being fearful of God is basic to mankind, man being blinded by Satan.
Performance:
Man now hides in his own self works. He will perform for God to become perfect
so that God can now accept him. This is the beginning of religion, a return
to bondage, a compulsion to try to be perfect, to be good enough by a list
of rules, and a list of promises to be better on the other hand. Always in
doubt if good enough, become performance oriented. We flee from God and hide
in our performances.
God only loves good people, doesn't He? Spirit of rejection causes us to fall right back into sin. We create a God who thinks we are worthless to begin with.
Co-dependency:
Thus, we would do anything for others if they would only love us and make
us feel important:become a pastor, to serve others , to get others to need
me, and make me feel worthwhile. Need others to need me so that they will
love me. Compulsion to make others like me, afraid to displease them else
they will reject me.
We don't have time to love others because we are too busy trying to get others to fill the vacuum within ourselves, a need to be accepted, loved and not rejected. We seek our own interest, we perform to get others to fill our void. Thus, we establish a fleshly co-dependency relationship.
Death to the Old Self:
Seeking love from others essentially is a fleshly love. God's love is a divine
love. We can't produce it, we can only receive it. Even in our sinful and
corrupted self, God loves us just as we are. He sent His Son to die on the
cross so that He can accept us. The reason for and the purpose of the Cross
is to remove the sinful self so that the Holy Spirit can abide in us.
Working out our Salvation:
Now love is in our hearts. All we have to do is to live out and exercise
this divine love within . For to live is Christ, Christ to live out His life
through us, a life of love and blessing to others, Gal. 2:20
; Rom. 5:5
.
To get to this point is a daily process, takes time. We can only love because He first loved us, a love proven by the blood of Jesus. We no longer have to perform but surrender to Him. When we do fail, trust in Jesus to takeover our life. Jesus took our judgment on the cross, there is no more punishment for us. He who believes on this shall never fear death and judgment, this is gone forever.
The New and True Self:
Therefore, we no longer need others to accept us, to approve of us, the fear
of being rejected does not control. We are freed in Christ to love and to
minister to others as Jesus has done for us. The focus is on Christ within
Who directs the true self, the self in union with the Holy Spirit, to establish
God's Kingdom of love on earth.