Come & Go…

Ecclesiastes 9:3
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Our generation is really no different than any other. We have out aches and pains and struggles. We like to think we are different because we have technology that previous generations did not have. We like to think we have bigger dangers than previous generations had. Perhaps most of all we like to think simply that we have it 'harder' than previous generations because it gives us license to fail, and an excuse for the cause. I say phooie!

We might have a fear of weapons of mass destruction and the fact that unstable people have them at their disposal. But evil men have tormented the earth before with their armies of evil doers and death. Attila the Hun may not have had mega-tons at his control, but he had a mega army of ruthless soldiers that literally tore men apart by tying their arms and legs to horses and tearing them off. I'm certain that this struck equal fear. They also tortured, raped and enslaved all they could capture. We might fear disease we cannot cure like AIDS and Ebola, but incurable disease has always been with mankind. In biblical times those people with leapers were heralded with the phrase, "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!" because people knew that a touch could entrap them in a lifetime of pain and suffering as your body simply rotted away. Epilepsy was synonymous with demon possession and don't you think for a moment that these things struck fear into the hearts of men like we have today.

As the plague rolled through Europe and then the world in the mid 1300's millions died. And when we look at the number of deaths as a percentage of the word population, it was a death rate higher than we can almost imagine estimated at 35-50% in Europe and as high as 60% or more in China and the East. Not surprisingly, the plague returned in variations in almost every generation since then until the late 1700's.

We all live with fear. Fear is a mechanism that God built into us in order to give us alarm. Some fears are certainly justifiable. If we lived in Israel as an example, the fear of dying in a nuclear holocaust is not unwarranted. If you travel the world much, the fear of contracting an air-borne illness is real. If you are required to have a blood transfusion in a third world country, it may save your life, but only to find out that you are now HIV positive.

My point: We do not have to live IN fear. Nothing is new under the sun. AND, nothing is new under the SON. The hearts of men are evil, as the book of Genesis tells us, only evil continually. This is what we live in fear of. What will evil bring upon us next? Whatever it is, it's basis is not new, and thankfully, by the grace of God, our protection from that evil is not new either.

As Christians we are called to live in peace, joy and satisfaction that Jesus rules our lives. That being the case, He has conquered all. He has conquered fear, and disease, as well as death itself. If we stop to ponder what the most wise man to ever live stated above, there is nothing new. There is nothing that will surprise Jesus and cause Him to say, "Jeesh, what do I do now?" Knowing that, and allowing that the live in our hearts, and live out in our lives will not only bring comfort to ourselves, but will live to serve as a witness to others that Christ is in control; not just of us, but of everything!