2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
Think for a moment about some of the amazing miracles Jesus performed. Water to wine, multiplying a few loaves and fish to feed thousands, calming the storm, calling Lazarus out of the grave… In John 14, Jesus tells us that those of us who come after him will do what he has been doing, plus even greater things. How is that possible? Because he would give us his Spirit.
In today’s verse, Paul reminds Timothy that the Spirit we have been given is not timid or fearful, and if we live according to this Spirit, we won’t be either. The Spirit that is alive and active in us is characterized by power, love, and self-discipline.
A lot of us have discovered that our typical coping mechanisms for fearful or troubling times are not serving us well when the time is measured in weeks or months instead of days. Over-indulging in our favorite comfort foods, for example, may have us feeling sluggish and slightly sick. Numbing our feelings with online shopping may give us a fun package to look forward to each day, but we can also look forward to a credit card bill arriving soon that will be anything but fun. To say nothing of even more dangerous methods of dealing with fear that can lead to destructive addictions.Wherever we are after weeks of coping, it might be time for the Spirit to bring a little power, love, and self-discipline into the situation.
Where I most need that self-discipline lately – and see if you can relate – is when it comes to news and social media. Being informed is important, but riding the 24-hour news cycle is like strapping in on a roller coaster you can’t get off of. Social media has been so helpful for maintaining community while we’re all social distancing, but if I think I’m there to relax I’m kidding myself. One practice that I’ve found very helpful is to avoid all news and social media before noon. This keeps me from reaching for my phone instead of my Bible first thing in the morning and it also lets me set a good tone for the first few hours of the day before letting too many other voices into my head. I also make sure I don’t consume any of this within an hour of going to bed, to give those voices time to clear out before it’s time to sleep. Sometimes it’s a real struggle against the voice of fear that compels me to be sure I know what’s going on at all times, but the Spirit of power and self-discipline is on my side so the battle is already won.
What areas are you struggling with since this pandemic started where you need the Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline to give you victory over a fearful and timid spirit?
Moment of Beauty:
Used with permission from https://poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com/
I recently watched a Youtube video of a man who purchased a used car. In the video he found it necessary to bug bomb the car as it was infested with spiders. He was concerned that the infestation might include brown recluse spiders as they were not uncommon in his area of the USA. It reminded me of my time spent in Thailand during the Vietnam war. I was not directly in the fighting although there was always the threat of that. But there were so many other dangerous and deadly snakes, insects and animals present. At some point you acclimate to the threats. Working around live munitions and aircraft with their own dangers you also have to acclimate. But a virus I can’t see and don’t fully understand or have problems knowing where it exists provides whole new challenges. Perhaps it is uncertainty that we fear most
Interesting point about how we can become desensitized to the dangers around us over time. I wonder if that’s already starting to happen with the Coronavirus after more than 2 months of constant coverage. At what point are we collectively saturated?
Fear of the unknown is certainly part of the issue with this crisis – though I guess it wouldn’t be a crisis otherwise. All the same, I’m exploring what it means to have the Spirit of God living inside me in the midst of this. None of this is surprising or uncertain for Him, and if He lives in me, then I somehow have access to that peace and security. It definitely isn’t easier, but I’m wondering if it’s more simple than I ever realized. Does that make sense?