Courage to Live

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 (ESV)  

Your greatest enemy is fear. 

• The birth of Jesus was unique. How many people do you know who chose to come into the world before they were born, or before they were even conceived?

Before His birth in Bethlehem he was happy with the Father in Heaven. 

• The great saints longed to leave the suffering of this life to be happy with God in heaven but Jesus loved you and me so much, that he decided to be born and become one of us.

The Son of God looked ahead and saw the humiliation of growing up in a small minded village community. 

• He knew he would be rejected and ridiculed because he was conceived before His parents were married. He knew many people would not believe God was his actual father.

He knew he would be persecuted by the religious leaders, unjustly arrested and executed in the cruelest possible way.

• He knew all this because he was God in Heaven but he decided to be born. He knew what would happen but he still chose to be born.  

• He natural human reaction to such anticipated suffering is fear but Jesus made a decision not to be afraid.

The Christian life is a supernatural life but it has its natural side as well. We have human feelings. 

• Jesus was sometimes horribly tired. He suffered deep rejection over and over again. Once he wept in public but we don’t know how many tears he shed in private.

He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Isaiah 53:3 (NLT)  

Jesus was often rejected and it hurt deeply but he decided to love anyway, to love the very people who hurt him.

• If you decide to follow Jesus, you will also suffer rejection and heartache. It will hurt. 

But God will be with you with the same miracle working power which he demonstrated in the life of Jesus.