Faith not fear

Tuesday June 10th, Romans 8: 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. I have heard that the opposite of faith is not non-faith, or non-believing, but fear. Fear traps us, controls us and sends us down paths of ill design. Fear controls the electorate and sell ill begotten programs that yield great wealth for a few, great misery for the many. Faith on the other hand gives us hope, fills our life with possibility and lets us know we are loved. Faith gives life, well, life. Faith is breathing into some lump of clay eons ago and having it come to life. Faith is nurturing these dirt creatures into beings that someday would learn to love and accept one another as brothers and sisters. Faith is knowing this life breathing creator is with you and will be with you always, even beyond time, no matter how bad you screw up. Some would like to combine the two these days, some would like to equate fear with faith. To have faith you must fear homosexuality, to have faith you must fear terrorism and terrorists and not see them as your brothers and sisters, to have faith you must live right and follow all the rules and go to the right church. It’s all just 1984ish doublespeak. You are a child of God, loved by God, saved by God through Christ and called to live as a child of God. You are not perfect and never will be, but you are loved with a perfect love and always will be. It is like the difference between loving your child because they are your child and loving your child because they keep their room clean all the time, do all their chores around the house, always come home on time and always check in. We never do it all right all the time. I like God’s way, to love us because we are. That way there is no fear, only faith.