Day 108: Couragious Spirit

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  2 Timothy 1:7

This is a message we have to hold onto at all times.

It's crazy that the word spirit could even be used in a way that incorporates fear or timidity.  It means air.  In many Indo-European languages, the word for spirit or soul comes from the word for wind or air or breath.  It implies motion.  It implies power.  Our spirits are the things that move us in every situation.

It is our fears that quench the spirit.  It is when we start getting on our high horses with our logic that we start to fall apart.  And that's because we start to put barriers on our spirit.  We will start to hide our talents.  We will lower our voices.  We will continue to hide ourselves until we find a place where only our mind can take care of us.  We could become so isolated that everything that we shielded ourselves from is truly distant.  Yet, that would involve us being far away from everything good as well.

Paul probably wrote this letter understanding that his martyrdom was very near.  However, even in that dire situation, he found a way to give encouragement, and it must have been encouragement for himself as well.  Jesus called for all of us to go out into the wild world in order to preach the Good News.  I'm sure you're just like me, observing that this world needs more of the Good News.  We need Jesus.  We need a peace of mind.  We need love.

Our fears only become taxing for us, for they are things that we have to give an effort just to come up with.  When we're afraid of the dark, it only starts to sound ridiculous when we start considering our fear.  In the same way, we need to start evaluating our fears.  Jesus told us to go out, show our talents, bring others to God.  Nowhere did Jesus say to cower in the face of adversity.  In fact, Jesus showed us to do the opposite, first with miracles and casting out of demons and then with going up to the cross.

We have been created with a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind.  When we let our spirit lead us, we will find ourselves getting closer and closer to God.