"Do Not Fear for I Am with You"

By Robin G. Jordan

On Saturday I stopped at a Dollar General store near my home to buy a couple of loaves of whole wheat bread. Dollar General stores are ubiquitous in western Kentucky. They have filled the vacuum created by the disappearance of the corner groceries and five-and-dime stores of my youth. The woman in front of me was unfamiliar with the key pad on the credit/debit card reader and the cashier and I helped her to use it. "I am one of the people who don't like change," she complained. "We live in a changing world," I commented to the cashier after she left. The cashier agreed.

We do not live in a static world. Indeed we have never lived in a static world. There is no way of escaping it. Change is inevitable.

The pace of change may fluctuate. Sometimes it moves slowly. Other times it moves rapidly. But the world in which we live does not stand still. Even the Amish and Old Order Mennonites who farm western Kentucky and use horse-drawn buggies are sometimes seen with a cell phone in their hands.

Change is not always positive. Neither is it always negative. Change can be catastrophic. It can also bring with it unexpected blessings.

What we can anticipate in the new year and the new decade is that we will experience more change. While I do not believe that we should embrace it uncritically, I also do not believe that we should reject it without thought to the possible effects. I believe that we will need to use a high level of discernment in 2020 and the 2020s.

What are some of the things that we can anticipate in the new year and the new decade? The 2020 presidential election campaign will be a brutal one and will further polarize the nation whatever the outcome of the election. The campaign, the election, the next four years, and the remainder of the decade will be a test for Christians, not just evangelicals and charismatics, but mainline Christians and Catholics. It will be a test of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his teachings and example. Let us not forget what Jesus said to the apostle Peter. "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat." (Luke 22:31, NIV) Peter's faith was indeed tested. He would deny Jesus three times.

To love Jesus is to obey what he has commanded. Jesus said, "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." (John 14:21, NIV) He also said, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23, NIV)

As God said to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:7, NIV)

Sin like a ravenous beast awaits us. If we stray from the narrow path, sin will pull us down and devour us.

Jesus taught that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength and we should love our neighbor as ourselves. He further taught that our neighbor includes those whom we might hate and despise.

Among the implications of his teaching is that we should not make idols of political leaders and put them before God in our affections. We should be civil towards those who do not share our political views and treat them with kindness and generosity. While they may not act in a like manner, this does not justify lashing out at them. Jesus also warns against hanging onto anger and resentment and thereby giving the devil an opportunity to exploit our negative feelings to harm us and others.

Taken together, this means we are expected to live by a higher standard than those who are not his followers.

Will it be easy? No. But Jesus has sent us the Holy Spirit to help us. The Holy Spirit is no other than God himself dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit will guide, strengthen, and encourage us. He will spur us on to live as Jesus would have us live.