Fear
often runs and ruins our lives. It
causes us to hide our truest selves, hedge our deepest convictions, and
hesitate to use our finest gifts. Fear
makes us obsessed with security, status, and success. It makes us reluctant to
venture beyond the walls of the familiar, and it bars the way to meaningful
friendships with people whose experiences and viewpoints are different from our
own. Fear causes us to live in a world
so much smaller than the one God loves.
often runs and ruins our lives. It
causes us to hide our truest selves, hedge our deepest convictions, and
hesitate to use our finest gifts. Fear
makes us obsessed with security, status, and success. It makes us reluctant to
venture beyond the walls of the familiar, and it bars the way to meaningful
friendships with people whose experiences and viewpoints are different from our
own. Fear causes us to live in a world
so much smaller than the one God loves.
When I was a boy in Atlanta, I often visited the
Grant Park Zoo. The zoo’s most famous
resident was a gorilla whose nickname was “Willie B.” in honor of a former
Atlanta mayor, William B. Hartsfield. I
always sent to see the massive gorilla, and it always made me sad that he lived
in a glass cage instead of in the jungle.
These days, I wonder if “Willie B.” was sad, too; or had he been captive
for so long that he had lost sight of a world beyond the narrow confines of his
cage? Had he surrendered his desire to run free?
Grant Park Zoo. The zoo’s most famous
resident was a gorilla whose nickname was “Willie B.” in honor of a former
Atlanta mayor, William B. Hartsfield. I
always sent to see the massive gorilla, and it always made me sad that he lived
in a glass cage instead of in the jungle.
These days, I wonder if “Willie B.” was sad, too; or had he been captive
for so long that he had lost sight of a world beyond the narrow confines of his
cage? Had he surrendered his desire to run free?
The God made known in the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus is always flinging open the doors to our cages. We
don’t have to be paralyzed by fear. Love
sends us and goes with us into God’s vast, wonderful, troubled, and beautiful
word, the world God sent Jesus to reclaim and to heal.
resurrection of Jesus is always flinging open the doors to our cages. We
don’t have to be paralyzed by fear. Love
sends us and goes with us into God’s vast, wonderful, troubled, and beautiful
word, the world God sent Jesus to reclaim and to heal.
Recent Comments