C O N F U S I O N
I N
CHRIST’S
F I E L D
A child walks to the edge of the sidewalk, then pauses to consider the empty road as the mind wanders to consider the possibility of oncoming traffic. A father begins to walk across while holding this child’s hand. Together, in step with one another, they cross the road to the other side.
Prior to crossing this road, the child carries a real hesitation based on a fear of oncoming traffic.
Yet, this fear is overcome as the child trusts the father.
When called into obedience to Christ, confusion can cloud the mind. We, too, may be gripped by fear.
As we deal with fear we range in our responses—some to the extreme of complete paralysis and other toward an over-extreme self-confidence.
At times, I have found myself at one or the other extreme. When called to abandon what I grew to know for the abundance found only in Christ I struggled greatly with fear of man. When called to put off the lies cast upon me by the world, I often attempted to battle them in my own strength rather than rest in Christ.
As everyday believers, we are left to our own fear whenever we try to live out Christ’s commission absent of the Spirit’s empowerment and the Father’s very presence.
Without the empowerment of the Spirit and the Father’s present, we can do nothing else but be gripped by fear or try to live by faith in ourselves—we either never step up to the starting line OR we attempt to drag ourselves over finish.
Yet, we see in Hebrews 12 that
“…Jesus is the AUTHOR
and the FINISHER of our faith…”
It is Christ who brings us to the starting line and it is Christ who walks us over the finish. Therefore, what eradicates fear and dismisses our confusion is better awareness of the CHRIST of the commission.
In Matthew 3, we see Christ joined by the Spirit and pleasing the Father in His commission on the earth. As believers now entrusted with Christ’s commission, the same way that Christ came is the same way that we are called to GO.
This means that to take on Christ’s commission, we must trust the Father. To take on Christ’s commission, we must be empowered by the Spirit.
This is how we offload fear and move into the work of Christ’s field.