It's Not You, It's Me

I wanted to do a post on the danger of being driven by fear, and how it's an immature act many of us Christians never overcome. Scripture speaks against being driven by fear, unless it's fear of God which isn't anywhere near the same thing. But when fear of _______ takes that place, hatred gets a foot in the door and it gets worse from there. Throw in some clever and/or gently snarky comments (can those two words go together?), leave with a good line or some sort of question, and that would be that. Or so I thought.

I don't worry. Tell me my house is on fire, and I'll mentally work through replacing everything as I grab buckets of water to put it out. Tell me a burglar is in the house, and I'll calmly nod as I try to remember where I left the closest blunt object. It may end up being my head, but that's another story. The point is, I thought I was a reasonably fearless guy. Reality is a funny thing.

Tensions in the North recently got to the point they actually made South Koreans a bit nervous. Since I know God will continue to protect us, and I still think the Republic of Korea is the safest place to be right now, fears of physical danger aren't what get to me. The thought of a reality outside of this country does. I'm so used to living here, it feels like a part of me. It's hard to explain, but after five years of living here I really had to struggle with the fact that this may not be it.

I guess there could be worse fear idols, but that's not the point. It's like saying armed robbery isn't so bad as long as you don't kill anyone. Wrong is wrong.

Insecurity and too much interest in others' opinions of me? Those are still present and accounted for as well. Never think you've already attained.

In my last post, I mentioned struggling with impatience as people aren't where (I think) they need to be. I need these little reminders every now and then to keep myself honest. I have my idols too, and they need to go.