Fear Of Man: Dead, Blind, Lost, and Condemned
What does God think of you? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Below is a short story and then an answer to this very question, “What does God think of you?” Also, “What is God saving me from?” People tend to say, “I think I am a good person” or “I do good things” and think that is going to save them. Is this point of view true?
If you don’t understand any or parts of this blog, pray about it. Get out your Bible and look up the verses in the second half of this blog and pray that God gives you understanding.
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Fear of Man: Dead, Blind, Lost, and Condemned, a short story:
Born blind and with the iniquities of his father etched upon his heart, and his mother’s sin-tainted milk upon his lips, Fear Of Man did not stand a chance. He was conceived rotten; a seed planted and fertilized in his mother’s womb that could only produce poisonous, vile fruit.
In fact, Fear Of Man was born spiritually stillborn. The wages of his sins would someday result in his actual, physical death. How pitiful it was to see him condemned before he could utter a single intelligible word.
Unable to see, Fear Of Man could only see images within his own inward reality based on things seen through the eyes of other men. Yet, like him, other men were born with the same problems. They too were blind. They too were condemned before uttering a word. They too were born with the iniquities of their father’s etched upon their hearts. All that anyone could see was darkness.
The entire world was blind. People were consistently getting lost without anyone with sight to develop and design anything. The world was in disarray. In fact, there was nothing anyone in the world could do to save themselves or help anyone else. No one could do anything good. No one could seem to do any work that would result in a good outcome.
The thought of sight became so foolish that eventually the world stopped talking about sight altogether. Life became a life of everyone for themselves. People stumbled in darkness, always searching for ways to survive. The world was in chaos.
Yet, Fear of Man was different. As a child, he began to ask where things came from. Where did all the things he couldn’t see come from? Even Fear’s parent’s scoffed at him and said, “How would we know where things come from? We can’t even see! Where do get these silly ideas of yours?”
Fear didn’t know where he got his silly ideas, but he continued to ponder, “How could something come from nothing?” In his heart, he knew that there was something wrong. He knew that something was missing, but he kept quiet because he was afraid of what his parents would say. He didn’t want them to make fun of him anymore.
Many years went by and one day, Fear heard a voice. ”Hello, Fear.”
Fear answered, “Hello. Who are you?”
The voice answered, “My name is I AM. I have observed you patiently for a long time and it has caused me much suffering to see you be afraid of what others will say even though you know that something is wrong.”
“But, I am afraid of punishment and ridicule.”
“Do not be afraid. There is a place where the blind see. A place where men have sight and are not condemned to a life lost in darkness. There is a place full of new life. Follow me, Fear Of Man, and come and see.”
“How can I see, for I am blind!”
“You have little faith. Are your ears as deaf as you are blind?”
Fear replied, “I must go,” and left I AM.
When Fear found his parents, he asked them why they brought him into a world that was so bleak. If they thought that there was no purpose behind anything and everything was so terrible because they were blind, why did they stay with each other and have him.
His parents could not answer. Instead, they became defensive and told him to go away. Why should they care about anything, just as long as they survive.
Yet, Fear of Man would not give up. Suddenly, he raised his voice and told his parents, “Stop it!” After much argumentation and yelling, Fear of Man was able to tell his parents what he meant. If things just randomly happened, he asked, how did they exist? He thought their idea that they must have come from another place or other things did not make sense. How could they develop to a point in which they could survive, but still be blind? If there was no purpose other than to reproduce and survive, then why try surviving at all?
Could there be a place where men see and were not condemned to a life lost in darkness that left everyone feeling dead?
Again, Fear Of Man’s parents were speechless for a time before telling him yet again to go away. They exploded in anger, saying there is no hope. They will always be condemned to a life of blindness. This time, he obeyed and left their presence.
Again, Fear Of Man heard a voice, “Hello, Fear.”
“I recognize your voice. I AM, what must I do to see?”
“Do you truly believe, even without sight, that there is something more than what you currently have in your life. That there is a place where men have sight, are not condemned to a life lost in darkness, and are given new life?”
“Yes.”
“Then open your eyes and see all that I have for you my son. My father, God, sent me to you. Through me, he created all things in the heavens and on the earth. Many do not believe as you do, but God called you to himself and you will now be called Faithful; for you believe in things you have not seen. There are others like you. Within you, I have placed My Spirit. Now you will see the world for what it truly is and understand the things you have not seen.”
It was then that Faithful received sight and could see the world, filled with color and light.
“Thank you, I AM. Forgive me. I will turn away from my fears and will not turn back to darkness.”
I AM replied, “Go and tell others of what you now see so that they too may see.”
(Written by Tim Young, “Fear of Man: Dead, Blind, Lost, and Condemned”, 2010)
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Here’s the part where I ask people to get out their Bible’s and look up the verses and actually think about them. Not just for 2 seconds after reading them, but meditate on them. Learn them. Pray that you understand them.
One lesson that I must learn continually, like the Israelites in the times of Judges, Kings and as they walked through the desert for 40 years is that I am called to repent daily. I am no longer blind (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), condemned (John 3:18), lost (Luke 15), and spiritually dead in my sins (Ezekiel 18:4, Romans 6:23) . I am called to be light to the world and no longer live in darkness.
We are spiritually dead, blind, lost, and condemned to eternity in hell without belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus says, ”If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
We are called to lose our sinful life, as we are saved by Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross. We are to follow and imitate Christ, growing in the wisdom and knowledge of God through his Word.
Our good works do not matter. In fact, without belief in Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul calls good works cow dung (Philippians 3:8-9, meaning in the Greek) and Isaiah the prophet called them menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6). Doing “good things” won’t get you into heaven.
In fact, have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is God saving me from?” or “Why is there a hell?” The fact is, God is saving you from his just, righteous wrath against sin. The reason there is a hell is because everyone sins and the only people to get into heaven, and justifiably so, are those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (John 14:6). God is perfect and just. He is holy. That means there is nothing sinful about him. Sin literally dies in his presence (Think about it. In the Bible, no one can see God and live. It is why different people in the Bible are fearful when God comes in a different form. They think they will die in his presence. It’s why God told Moses to turn away when he gave the 10 Commandments. Moses would have died if he saw God. If Moses wasn’t good enough to see God, then you surely are not). Therefore, without having faith in Jesus who lived a perfect life and died so that men like you and me could believe in him and be forgiven, there is no way to be justified and deemed righteous before God. God will say, “I never knew you, depart from me” (Matthew 7:23).
If anything anyone says or does, even in church, does not match up will the sovereign will of God that is taught in the Bible, then we are to stop it.
But how?
Simple. Stop it.
But how? It’s hard.
Stop it.
But how? But my sin is very terrible.
Stop it.
Are you getting it yet? There is no magic way of not sinning. You just have to stop it. Strive to not do it again. Turn away from it and go in the opposite direction.
Repentance is a spiritual 180 degree turn from your sin.
To live a life of faith, grow in the Word. How? Read it. Meditate on it. If you don’t understand something, study it. In this way, you will be able to know what stuff you hear or read does not match of with Scripture and toss it out. Needless to say, traditions and opinions are not equal as God’s Word.
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17
No matter how traditionalists twist it, it still says that scripture alone is all-sufficient to equip us for EVERY good work. Not some good works, EVERY.
Check the traditions and teachings of your church or even the opinions you have against Scripture. Be like the Bereans in Acts 17, weighing what is taught against what God has said in Scriptures. Why?
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. — 2 Timothy 4:3
Do not get trapped in a spiritual famine. Do not be discouraged when others do not listen. It is God who gives ears to hear, eyes to see and is the potter, making some vessels for noble purposes and some for destruction (1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Romans 9:21-22).
“Behold the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
When I will send a famine on the land—
Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord. — Amos 8:11
And if you don’t already get it, watch this video.
