Palm and Passion Sunday thoughts
Mood:  blue
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Mark 15:51-72: Simon Peter failed ... or did he?

Fear of failure is what keeps us in sin---we're afraid to take a stand and say, "I'm not going to do this anymore!" because our first thought is, "What if I mess up?"

Many of these examples are drawn from John Ortberg's sermons ...

Jonas Salk: "I did not fail 200 times; I discovered 200 ways not to vaccinate for polio."

Winston Churchill: Repeated a grade in elementary school: "I never failed anything in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right."

No event is, in and of itself, a failure---failure is how you interpret the event.

> What if something happens to your car? You will eventually get another one.
> What if something happens to your wallet? You'll eventually replace it.
> What happens if the preacher preaches a really bad sermon? You can send him to Hawaii on a sabbatical!

Having intense fear and anxiety may even be genetically influenced---people with a shorter gene slc6a4 on chromosone 17q12 are more likely to be afraid. If, right now, you're thinking, "Oh no, which one do I have?"---you have the shorter one.

The ride only lasts a few minutes---there's not enough time in life to spend it in worry and fear. Just do it!

Some of it is the way we were brought up: "You're going to lose an eye hitting each other with those lightsabers!"

Some of it is media: Len Sweet: We long for security, knowing how things will come out. "Fear is dominated by our need for security. ... First we install seat belts, then shoulder belts, then we put the two together. Then we add airbags. Soon we'll be driving around in giant marshmallows." Eileen Gulden: "You can live on bland food to avoid an ulcer, drink no coffee or tea, go to bed early, avoid all controversy, spend money only on necessities, and save all you can---and still fall and break your neck in the bathtub and it would serve you right."

Wear your seatbelt, take care of your health, look both ways before crossing the street, don't talk to strangers---but not because you're afraid. Do it because you love life. The actions aren't the problem---it's the motive that's the problem.

Get rid of fear not because there aren't things to be afraid, not because you won't ever fail in your struggle against sin ... no, get rid of fear because you love life and because life is short and you want your life to be the best it can be, you want to glorify God.

*****

Every moment that you live in fear of failure in your struggle against sin, you have already failed.

You can LOVE LIFE or you can LIVE IN FEAR---but you cannot do both at the same time.