Do You Fear a Kitten or a Lion???

Yesterday, I listened to a sermon that I had downloaded from the internet. This is something that I try to do on Sundays here in Kenya.

It’s a 7-part series based on The Cross.

Before getting into the aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the teacher discusses in Parts 1 & 2 (haven’t gone past those two parts yet) the purpose of us to God and how we are here to glorify His name. But yet, every day through our sins, we belittle His name. We make mistakes; we fall down. But thankfully, we are forgiven through the Blood of Jesus Christ and God’s grace upon us.

In Romans 11:22, it says: Consider therefore the kindness and sternness (some translations say severity) of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue his kindness.

We can all grasp God’s kindness: His grace, a comforter, a healer, etc. but it’s the severity of God, the sternness of God that we forget or perhaps dismiss so quickly.

But on to the thing I want to mention….

Part 2 scared the trousers off of me (pants, if you’re in North America). The teacher talks a lot about hell…not a pleasant topic for most of us. Is hell God’s highest act of severity?

In Luke 12:4-5, Jesus says to his disciples: I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you in to hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

And then the teacher of this sermon asks, “Why do we continually fear the KITTEN and not the LION?” And I was like, “HUH?”

I, like, the average human being would probably say, “Ah no, definitely don’t fear the kitten. The lion on the other hand….run like…well you know.” Yet, we fear what the people on earth think of us. Are they mad at me? Do they like me? But we rarely fear what God may think of us. Then why, why do we always fear the KITTEN (people and their view of us) and not the LION (God and His view of us)?

Why fear the man who takes your life physically when it should be God we fear and want to serve and please, as it is He who has the power to throw us in to hell and us to lose out on spending an eternity with Him in Heaven.

This is for eternity folks…not just a weekend getaway to Heaven or hell. We can’t even fathom eternity…but let’s just say, it’s a REALLY long time.

Hell is the absence of God. God brings all things positive: love, joy, happiness, all things great. So if God is absent in hell, then all the positive things we know of, are absent in hell as well. For eternity.

In Revelation 14:11, it describes hell as: The smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest, day or night…

Why would we want to ever risk an eternity in Heaven with everything good, everything God for an eternity of “eternal fire?”

I openly admit that many times I have been far more afraid of the kitten than I have been of the Lion. I lived many years wanting to please the people, wanting to make sure that I was liked and loved by everyone. I needed to learn that pleasing people, in many cases, was a waste of time because in reality I learned that I couldn’t please everyone. Not everyone was always satisfied with what they did or didn’t get from me. I learned the hard way; I got stressed out, made stupid decisions, sacrificed my relationship with Christ and I put others before Him.

But to be honest, there are days, still, that I struggle with that. I am human; I hate to be hated and love to be loved. Aren’t we all like that at some point?

But reality is, that people don’t determine who I’m going to be, where I’m going to go and what I’m going to do. My life is already mapped out for me; my path has already been drawn. But it’s up to Christ and my relationship with Him, my obedience to Him that will get me to where He wants me to be.

I chose to be afraid of the Lion and not the kitten. What do you choose?

Love you all,
Meredith
xoxoxo