Hope

Cast Off


Sailing away often sounds appealing to me. In fact, in one of my all-time favorite books, A Severe Mercy, has an entire section recounting the adventures at see that the author and his young wife experienced. It sounded romantic, not just in that “boy meets girl and falls in love type of way”, but in the “life is an adventure and should be experienced and not just lived” type of way. The sea seemed like a world without care. Once that boat pushed off from the dock, all the troubles were cast away too.

The analogy seems apt because the Bible says that “perfect love casts off fear” (I John 1:18, NKJV). While this verse is oft-quoted, it is only recently that I have begun thinking about the action verb associated with it. In my minds eye, I think I considered the verse to be saying, “perfect love supplants fear” or “perfect love is greater than fear.” But neither of these are in fact what God’s Word contains. It says “perfect love casts off fear.” Just like the boat pulls up anchor, casts off, and sails into the open sea, perfect love does away with the weight of fear. It not merely overrules it, it repels it entirely.

This is a concept difficult to grasp because fear, anxiety and worry is so embedded into our day-to-day life. From worrying that we won’t arrive on time, to fearing that we won’t be able to pay our bills, we are consumed with that which we can’t control. Love, and the rest that comes from God’s perfect love, renders this fear ridiculous. Just as the anchor has no place on a boat that’s sailing on the open sea, fear has no place in a life redeemed by God’s love. For if God’s love has overarching prevalence in our life, then it is absurd to be afraid of all that’s less than it

Casting off for the blue skies and tranquil waters is promised as the pathway to peace. Real peace comes from casting off fear and trusting in Christ’s love.

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Hope

At the Stop of the World

Modern English made famous a song with these lyrics:

I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and its getting better all the time
There’s nothing you and I won’t do
I’ll stop the world and melt with you.

The notion of these songs is that we want to freeze frame those moments of indescribable pleasure; the moments when it seems that all is right in the world.

On the other side of the spectrum are the moments when it seems right that the world should stop and it doesn’t: the untimely death of a loved one, the genocide of a generation, the heartbreak of a child. In these moments, we marvel at the fact that the world can go on. When it seems that the world should stop and stand aghast at the tragedy, nothing delays the turmoil and nothing delays the ordinariness of the rest of life.

Its in these moments while we are grieving and others are going grocery shopping, when we cry and others are cutting class, that we realize that the fact the world continues as it has for centuries past, and years to come (should Christ tarry) is just another example of the faithfulness of God. God comforts us in our pain, at the same time, He sustains our world when we are unable to fathom anything beyond our own grief. The sun still rises, the oceans crash, and its all a part from our own desire or initiative. Even when we are too consumed with loss to appreciate His good work, His good work remains.

There’s only been once in history where God did stop the world (Isaiah 38:8) and when He did so it was to signal His commitment to a promise. The fact that the world doesn’t stop is also a signal of what a faithful God we serve for in guiding the Earth’s path, He provides for His children. In directing the sun, He is sustaining life. Even when life may seem a little dimmer, His care for us shines through. We may be feel like we are the farthest thing from being on top of the world, and yet His providence never stops.

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