Saturday, July 12, 2003
Saturday, July 12, 2003
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what
they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.
As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod,
"You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of
sonship." We are children of the King. Certainly, there are legitimate things in this world to fear,
but He is greater than them all. What are you afraid of? Forget about tomorrow and yesterday.
Focus on today. Enjoy it to the fullest. Focus on those things you can control, not those you
can't. Do the best you can and entrust the rest to God. Focus on your faith not your fears. Think
on God's goodness and his power rather than frailties of your own flesh. Do not be enslaved to
your fears any longer. Let Him help you break those chains with a new spirit of trust, of hope, of
joy, of love. Rejoice in your new identity--sons and daughters of God.
(1 Peter
3.14-15
NRSV)
Sidney Lanier was a brilliant young poet who lived about a hundred years ago. When Lanier was
in his thirties, he developed tuberculosis. He knew he wouldn't live long, for few survived that
disease in those days. He went down to the coast of Glynn County, Georgia and sitting there one
day; looking across the marshes, he wrote one of his finest poems, "The Marshes of Glynn." In
that poem is this immortal couplet:
Behold, I will build me a nest on the greatness of God.
Dear God, may I trust you more and fear life's challenges less and less. Amen.
