The Whole Message of this New Life

"May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.

Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them."

Numbers 6:24-27

I'm reading through the Bible again this year (first time in many years), and I read the passage above a couple of days ago.  Comforting words for uncertain times.  In our home group Sunday night, one of the women shared with the group how she feels worried all the time now - about the rising gas prices, about the growing violence and confusion in the Middle East, and about how all of this will potentially affect us.  I know her feelings are shared by many Christians in America. We've been reading through the book of Acts together on Sunday evenings, and we'd just finished the story where the Apostles were arrested and put in jail to await questioning by the religious authorities the following day.  During the night an angel came and released them from prison, and gave them the instructions to return to the temple and continue teaching "the whole message of this new life".  Of course, the next morning when they sent for the Apostles, they found the jail cells locked with the guards in place - but no disciples.  What can you do with men who get released from jail by angels?  They ended up threatening them again, flogged them and sent them away - and the Apostles were rejoicing that they'd been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.

We still serve the same God, who may still choose to send angels to deliver us at any time.  So at the end of the day, what are we worried about?  God is still God, and He can still do anything He wants on our behalf, at any time.  I believe there is a time to exercise reasonable caution when faced with certain danger to myself, my family, or my community (case in point: we're in the process of creating a security team at church to respond to medical and security emergencies), but somewhere along the way we've come to the conclusion that God would never knowingly and willingly place His children in harm's way.  Even a cursory reading of the Scriptures and of church history quickly puts this notion to rest.  At this very moment, believers in the Lord Jesus around the world are experiencing rejection by their families and friends, persecution, and death for the sake of Christ.  I believe God prepares His children to face extreme hardship when His pathway leads through the valley of suffering.  I've seen this to be true in my brother John's life these past six years.  In the midst of continuous and at times excruciating muscle spasms all over his body,  I have seen God's Spirit penetrate deep into John's soul  - bringing an almost palpable sense of His deep, deep love.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; freedom from fear, freedom from worry, freedom from sin, freedom from bondage of every kind.  What would it be like if we could really live. . . free?