Feb 2nd, 2022: Impact of Fear
Ok, it is time to have some fun with this blog. This picture is in front of a man's T-shirt next to his significant other. It is rather funny. However, the notion is not foreign to me in my line of work. I have encountered folks who are married to their not too far distant relatives. "Are you still cousins if you decide to get a divorce?" I asked. (It was said tongue-in-cheek, I know)
Many men have stayed in their adolescent years until the day their mothers died. That is not an exaggeration. They avoid growing up and wonder why women are not interested in them. They stay up late playing games and don't show up for work on time. They stay with their parents and don't contribute to the household expenses. I am not making these up.
Here is how the conversation continues:
"It's me."
"What happened to you? You look so "different". You are hot and skinny."
"Well, you might say that. I am washed up, sliced apart, and fried. Yet, people consider I am more attractive than you are."
When we look at these three pictures, we realize that fear plays a significant role in life.
People in some communities won't go too far outside themselves to look for their spouses because of fear, fear of losing their cultural heritage and identity, fear of the outsiders who might pollute their own families.
Young people are afraid of growing up nowadays. They like to have all the privileges and don't want to work for them. They end up staying home longer. Some of them remain with their parents beyond their thirties.
Christians are afraid of being judged and condemned by the world, so we compromise. We are washed up by diluting the painful truth of the Gospel. We are sliced apart by losing our moral ground and have nothing to offer. We are fried because we are totally exhausted by living a compromising life. Our whole being is fried.
James 1: 4
"And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Mark 13: 13
"And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."
Psalm 34:4–5
"I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed."
