Power, Love, and Self-Control

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear BUT of power and love and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7

Last night at our Wednesday Wine we looked at this Scripture as applied to our current situation.

So often lately I have heard people say “as Christians we are not meant to live in fear.” This argument is usually used when someone is trying to justify why we should not be wearing masks in the midst of a global pandemic, or speak against social distancing, or. pushing for things to ‘return to normal.

It is not enough to stop as soon as we hear “God did not give us a spirit of fear” though.

I do believe that we were not mean to live in fear. I agree that God did not make us to simply live a fearful life, but desires for us to enjoy this life.

I know beyond a shadow of any doubt that we were made to live in hope, the hope we find in Christ Jesus.

But it is not enough we stop there. God gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control and we are to put that spirit to good use.

Therefore,

I do choose each day not to live in fear,

but I also choose to wear a mask, because that gives me some measure of power. Power to keep me and those around me safer.

I do choose to stay six feet apart from other people, because I love them enough to worry about their safety and wellbeing. I love myself and my family enough to want to keep us safe as well.

I do choose to stay home as much as possible. While it is hard at times I choose to exercise self-control to do the hard thing.

These are but small measure we can take to love our neighbor. God does not want us to live in fear, but God does want us to live power, love and self-control.

Holy God,

Help us to turn our fear over to you

and help us this day to live in power, love, and self-control.

Amen