Sunday, 17 June 2018

Serving the Lord without fear


That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. – Luke 1.71-75

John the Baptist was a prophet sent by God to do a new work and prepare the world for the coming of Messiah. His message was going to bold and clear. His preaching was to give God’s people of several things. One of those was that we can ‘serve the Lord’ without fear.

Now that doesn’t mean, of course, that nothing bad was going to happen. It meant that we could face all that came our way, good or bad with the peace that God will go through it with us. We may very well face trouble and opposition but we don’t have to fear eternal consequences.

We can serve without fear because Jesus promises ‘lo, I am with you always even to the ends of the earth.’ Even when it seems like we are all alone we can trust that He is there and we need not be afraid.

Serving God might be intimidating, but it ought never be fearsome.

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' – Isaiah 41.10

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