"Have No Fear"

"How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence." (Psalms 62:3) As crazy as this might sound, I can relate to how this strange little verse takes on some kind of a 'breaking down the walls' effect on our fears. Think about it for a moment, because you never worried about losing anything before you had something to lose. We build up walls of comfort around us, only to soon realize that those things become a wall of imprisonment and ongoing maintenance; never mind having to worry about where you would be without them. I know this is a stretch, but can't you see how wrong it is to worry about things that don't really matter beyond this life? Jesus put it in the simplest terms, using raiment, food and shelter as the example of stuff and comforts (Matthew 6:24-34); this He did to illustrate the importance of making heaven the number one priority in our lives, and putting God first and foremost on our list of things to be concerned about, as in, Am I pleasing Him? Well, are you? To whom do you answer to most, God's commands upon your life, or the needs of your stuff? I did not want to go down this road, but you would not believe the whole I have dug around my life by caring more for my stuff than I should; I will be paying off the IRS for the rest of my life; or at least for the next five to six years, I hope! You know that little command, "Thou Shalt Not Steal"? well not paying the taxes that you owe is pretty much the same as stealing; so I guess you can say I served mammon more than God, and I did it for a very long time! I know that it was wrong, and I have asked God to forgive me, and I have been trying very hard to make things right; but as for being afraid, I have no fear, because nothing in this life is able to take away from my eternity with Jesus, absolutely nothing! The way I look at it, I will either struggle to pay off what I owe, or I will relax in prison; the only thing that really concerns me is taking care of my wife; and for that reason, I am doing whatever it takes to clear up the mess I made. The simplest way that I can put this, is to imagine the worst thing that could happen in any situation that you are in, and then be comfortable with that; as odd as that might sound, it is absolutely true! Are you dealing with life-threatening cancer, then imagine it killing you, and make yourself comfortable with dying; whether you live or die is really up to God, and if God wants you to stick around, your cancer won't kill you, but your worries might...
"Then the LORD said to me, Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: "O Israel, My faithless people, come home to Me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against Him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to My voice. I, the LORD, have spoken! Return home, you wayward children, says the LORD, for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel- one from this town and two from that family- from wherever you are scattered. And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:11-15)