The Fear/Trust paradox

Hi all!  Things are going well here at HoneyRock.  I am now in the middle of session 2 of WIN.  The SLS students (aka the summer counselors) are also taking classes now for a total of 8 different college classes happening at once here at HoneyRock.  This last weekend held a trip to Wheaton to drop off session 1 students and pick up session 2 followed by activities to get to know the new group of students.  Today Rob officially moves back to HoneyRock from his sabbatical.  We are excited to have him back.

One thing that I've learned over the last few weeks is what I am calling the Fear/Trust paradox.  I have come to believe that fear of life and trust in God are opposites while fear of God and trust in God are almost synonymous.  For the sake of discussion we will look primarily at Psalm 112.  In verse 1, "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord".  Then in verse 7 we read that, "He [a righteous man] will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord."  This is similar to the more often quoted Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  When we put trust in the Lord then the worries of the world, our everyday lives, are put into focus.  The opposite is also true.  When we put our trust in ourselves or our ability to fix a problem then we continually worry about about it.  When we are really honest with ourselves, we realize that we are filled with fear.  Fear of failure, fear that someone will find out we aren't perfect, fear that someone we love will let us down, fear that God won't fulfill his promises, fear that we will be out of job, fear that our accomplishments aren't worth anything, etc.  1 John 4:18 says that, "Perfect love drives out fear".  God loves us.  Our identity is in Him, not in what we do our a position that we hold.  Because God loves us we can put our trust in him.  There is no fear when we trust in God, b/c His love is greater than our fears in life.  Thus, I believe that being a Christian means first and foremost putting our trust in God.  Often we try to cover up for our lack of trust by achieving a certain level of morality that makes us look good.  Thus, we are perceived as religious, but the reality is we are completely lacking faith and trust in God.  Rather, we are actually putting our faith and trust in ourselves.  I'm not discrediting morality, but am saying that it should be a by-product of a relationship with God that is based on trust.  Being a good person does not change God's view us and carries no weight for salvation (Romans 5:8).

These thoughts have greatly changed my perspective on life.  Maybe they will encourage your heart also.
Blessings...