A Gift to Jesus- THE GIFT OF FEAR

Here's a truth I have learned about men.  I know this fact for I am a 71-year-old man and it was my problem.  I have three sons in my immediate family and I've seen it in them.  I have met with men from all over the world and in different cultures.  Men have been a big part of my life, as I have mentored many.  They all have this problem as well.  We begin life and most often continue to be enslaved to this problem.  Here's the truth.  At the core of a man's life is fear.  It comes from our instinct for survival and for self-protection and for the protection of those people and things we hold dear.  It starts early within us.  It is a very strong fortress we build within our self to safeguard those people and things we care about.  But it also causes us to do some outward things that are bad, as a result of fear.  Now you're thinking that I haven't seen Rambo or characters like him, and you would argue that all men do not have fear.  You will say that there are many brave men without fear.  You've read about them and someone might come to mind.  If you are saying this, make note that I didn't say that these men and women are not brave.  I said they have, at their core, fear.  As far as the outside look is concerned, I have known some mighty bad looking and acting dudes in football, in bars, in prisons and in life.  They have a tough exterior that scares people away, but they have this as a false persona to protect a fear within.  I have seen some of these same "type" men run for cover if they feel threatened by someone or a situation bigger or more tough than they, and yet in contrast, I just read about a mother in Canada who physically took on a Polar bear to save her seven year old son.  She won the fight and the bear was later tracked down and killed.  Who do you think is the most brave, the one who looks the part with a tough exterior or the one who overcomes the fear in their life to stand and face the thing they fear?  They are not mutually inclusive.  The kind of bravery I speak of is not about how we look but rather the price we are willing to pay to be an overcomer of our fear.  As men, we will not overcome our instinct to fear by trying to insulate it, contain it, or do all we can do to avoid it.  There has to be a greater force that deals with it, which is what I'm getting to.

I spoke of the effect of fear.  Have you ever considered what fear causes us to do?  It creates emotional walls that shut people out in an effort to protect us from being hurt.  Ask an abused person if this is true.  Fear will cause some of us to enforce extra constraints to protect and prevent loss.  If you will dive deep into a controlling, worried and even an angry person, you see fear as their motivation.  It might be fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of shame, fear of being hurt.  But it is fear at the core.  I don't think anyone wants to have a controlling person in their life, even if that person is trying to control the danger that surrounds us and they want to protect us from it.  They do not understand why they are misjudged.  It is because we judge them by their controlling efforts, but they judge themselves by their intentions.  What they need to understand is that they are really trying to control their own fear.  But their effort will never accomplish their goal and they will shut people out of their life because of their efforts.  There are a lot more examples, but you get he point.

The antidote for this fear that lives within us and causes us to do some awful things, believe it or nor is love.  However, it is not just our love, but rather the perfect love we embrace.  Better said, it is the perfect love of Jesus.  His love is the only perfect love.  This love is the life of Jesus living within us.  It is this life within us that drives fear to its knees and out of our life, and the fruit of peace follows.

Now to our Christmas gift.  I have discovered that I cannot out give the Lord.  When I give Him something, He gives back to me something in return that is even greater than my gift.  It is for this reason I ask that we give our second gift to Jesus for His birthday present.  Let's embrace His perfect love deeply into our hearts and then give Him those things we fear.  Let's entrust those fears to Him as if they are a present in a box that is gift wrapped and put under the tree.  Take joy in wrapping it up and putting His name on it.  Give it to Him without reserve.  He wants us to do this, for He wants to get out of us the thing that is getting in the way of the courage He will infuse in us.  Now isn't that a gift exchange that you want to have?  You give Him your fear, and He gives you His courage.  What a deal!!!

If you will do what I am asking, I want you to listen and read the lyrics to a great song that declares your freedom from your slavery to fear. Be blessed.