“…so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.”
Haggai 2:5b
What is it to have no fear? To walk without fear can be an act of foolishness if we are ignorant to the realities that surround us, as much as it can be a breakthrough in the exercise of freedom if we walk fearless with full knowledge of all that is before us. Knowing the truths that make up life as we know it can be a daunting experience. Quite easily we are able to slip away from acknowledging the truth of the matter through different escape outlets. Television is one of these.
We can move into ways of living and of thinking which are well-trodden by others. (Bear with me as I bring out this thought to you.) Rhetoric and perspectives that are old, tired philosophies which we wear as ragged clothes keep us from living to our fullest extent with our hearts on our sleeves. Seldom does an individual create new moves and new paths in thinking and doing outside the normal range of culture, thereby boldly entering new frontiers as trailblazers in their own right.
In looking at a picture of the American culture, is it possible that there is a tired repetition to the dailyness of the lives of many of us? We work to make a living, celebrate the happy moments, share and partake with friends and family, rest, eat, make some love and repeat. How does one breathe new spirit, new life into that which we are and do? Can we think new thought and create new inspiration in our life, yet retain God’s way as described through his Word? How much has this particular path been truly trodden? How do we do that as Christians in this world?
We are in this world, but not of this world.
If we were of this world, then the world would love us and it does indeed love us if we walk in its paths. But I find that these paths are tired, trodden paths devoid of a inspiration. Inspiration is supposed to be fresh, lively and unique. Could it be that those who walk this path consistently seem to keep a peculiar spirit about them and thereby enter into a thinking and being ‘zone’ that keeps them vibrant and walking without fear? I question.
Walking in the Lord’s path begins to separate us and create a marked division which, in time, creates a contrast between ourselves and others. Easily, the concepts of ‘coexistence’ and ‘tolerance’ blanket spiritual fervor for the sake of ‘normalcy’ in our increasingly mixed American culture with differing values representative of each individuals faith and heritages. This is America today, yet as Christians should we not be fearless stewards of the Christian foundational principles that thread our country together? That of loving others as we would that we be loved, to treat each other with kindness, dignity and to look upon how to help one another? You could say Christianity is universal in its precepts and you would be spot-on, given that God, who is love itself created the universe through his Word.
To walk without fear, but filled with a state-of-mind of love places our wherewithal into a relaxed positional outlook of freedom as a state of simply being. It rings true then that America was founded as a Christian nation where God is love, and our constitution was written by selfless patriots holding in mind and heart the biblical principles found therein in the book of books that is known as the perfect law of liberty. Surely, these are stringent words to take in, but these are historical truths concerning freedom and how it was crafted in America.
All this said, are our freedoms at the burning stake in the name of security? Is it true only security, or have our freedoms been hijacked for political and commercial interest? How does this new dynamic affect our ability to live freely and with no fear? How does this new dynamic offset offset the principles on which this country was founded and by which we think we live?
In our present time, it seems that there has been a push to begin to call for the alteration of our U.S. constitution on different levels, which I ponder would only begin a cascade of future alterations once the door is open to begin editing it. As it stands, a very important part of our freedom has been sacrificed in the name of ‘All-Mighty Security.’ It has already become so that data-information on us is analyzed for political and monetary-consumer purposes, in effect, it has become so that the security-surveillance state we live in is being manipulated by political and commercial interest to better understand how to best sell to us and influence us.
To its credit, the security level in the United States of America at this time is unprecedented and it can be rightly put forth that in a very real sense, Americans are uber-safe from terrorist plots and catastrophic events such as witnessed in ‘911.’ Bear with me here…I say again, does not mass surveillance categorize and take in data for all kind of purposes, be it through the constant visual/ audio data picked up by our ubiquitous phones, all our smart technological devices, our monetary purchases and even the now well-established GPS systems all of our cars have? Does not the surveillance goes much more beyond these few examples I have given? Thinking about it can be overwhelming and we have limited recourse but to sigh and look outwardly instead for the sake of crafting some sanity in the midst of this ‘modern life.’ Is that complacency? Does not an important cornerstone of freedom silently fall away here? Did not President John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower allude to this in their administrations?
Moving through this reality and letting it be for now, I believe, is needful though for the time being. Even so, I question how lawful it is that our privacies are completely gone, and in effect, creating an unconstitutional situation on our own person. Again, letting this be as it is for now may be needful for each individual. I ask if it is possible to live and operate our lives fearlessly even as our constant moves and actions are being recorded into ‘data packages’ which again, I posit, are being inputed into algorithms used for security, political and monetary purposes?
The technology is truly impressive. How is it that the child of God is to move through this kind of life? In God’s Word he directs us to be as clever as the serpent and harmless as doves. He sends us into the world as sheep. But he also sends us in as particular conquering conquerors. He sends as lions among wolves. Please forgive me for speaking this way, but I speak to strengthen the hearts of God’s children. Again, that we may be as harmless as doves, yet strong and bold as lions, that we may walk in the perfect law of liberty and find our freedom not in a flag that is red, white and blue, but in God who keeps our nation and the principles for which we fight.
We know these truths regarding the surveillance-reality we live in and this is a direct breach of our freedom, yet I say again, let us be clever as serpents and harmless as doves and think upon the power that is being wielded at this current juncture. How can you harness it as an individual? How can you break from… this matrix? I just said that. Is this possible? What does living at liberty have to do with it? How can your exercise of being fearless recreate freedom, bring in inspiration to yourself and others, abide by the foundational principles that or country was founded upon and forge a revolution, not of hate and anger, but of unbreakable spirits that rise above these realities? The power of our country rests not in our physical weapons, but in our spirits. The power of this country rests not in the words of our constitution but in the power we give it though our inspired spirit. Freedom starts and lives inside of us then waxing and waning. As Christian stewards of the United States of America, we need not take an elitist stance against others, but a humble one of servant leadership that models that which God is and calls for though his Word. To bring light and love to those in darkness, to care for the spiritually fatherless and the spiritually widowed and that in so doing, that we may walk in the perfect law of liberty.
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