For the past year, maybe even two, about every month I have a re-occurring nightmare. In my dream, I am in a lake swimming and there are alligators everywhere. And they just keep getting closer and closer to me and there is nowhere to go. It's awful. Thanks to these dreams, I have built up this huge fear that one day I'm going to get eaten by an alligator. It scares the crap out of me; it scares me to death. (You see what I did there?) I mean come on; they can eat you in water or eat you on land. Goodness, who knows, next they're going to be eating you in the sky! Regardless of where they are eating you, I now have this huge fear of these ancient lake monsters!
About a month ago or so, I went fishing with my Mom (Bonni) and my Uncle (Bo). I was informed that the lake we were going to had some alligators in it. I was a little frightened at first, but was ready for my 5 a.m. wake up call the next day so I could take on my unconscious fear. The next morning we arrived at the fishing hole and so you know exactly what I did first... Had my mom tie a lure on my fishing pole for me (obviously). But after that, I checked all around for Mr. Alligator, who was nowhere to be found. I began fishing right on the lake's shore and after a while, realized I was not paying any bit of attention to catching a fish. I was constantly looking around, patrolling for an alligator. Not because I wanted to see him, but because I was freaked out. I was convinced that at any moment an alligator was going to come charging out of the water after me.
To be honest though, in my mind, I had expanded on this little fear so much that it became something it wasn't. The fact that for about an hour or so, I literally thought an alligator was going to come charging out of the water and eat my face off, was absurd. It's crazy, I know. But this is what I'm trying to get at. Was the alligator really going to come charging out of the water to eat my face off? In reality, no. But in my mind, I had blown this thing so out of proportion that I was convinced I was going down that day as a fishing martyr. But after an hour or so of this going on I had a thought...
How often do we do this? How often do we take something that really isn't that big of a deal and make it way bigger than it is? How often are we afraid? How often do we scare ourselves to the point of death? I think it's a lot more than it should be. You see, God has a hold on our lives and He has a plan for our lives. God is way bigger than our fear. The thing is, is we blow things so out of proportion and they begin to effect the way we live our lives. And if fear begins to rule our lives, in no way are we or can we live the life that God has called us to live. God does not call us to live a fearful life but a life in the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is what He gives us. "For God did not give us a spirit of fear but rather of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7). God has also called us to live in freedom! Freedom from all fear! Whether it's something we're legitimately worried or scared of or something we blow out of proportion (like ending up like the arm in the picture above. P.S. it's photoshopped). "For freedom Christ set us free" (Galatians 5:1). And even more than that if I can continue on. God calls us to live in love, "because God is love" (1 John 4:8). He doesn't just want us to be filled with His love, but He wants us to be overflowing with His love, that it can't be contained! That everywhere we go, whatever we do, we can't help but fearlessly live in His love! "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love" (1 John 4:18).
My prayer is that we could live lives that are not ruled by earthly fears, but that we could live lives in the freedom of God's perfect love. Perfect love is the greatest and ultimate collision of Heaven and Earth.
