Fear Driven or Faith Driven

What does it mean to experience life through a "Fear Driven" lens? What does it mean to experience life through though a "Faith Driven" lens?

To live driven by fear means we are usually running away from someone or something that creates anxiety in our hearts. A fear driven life also has the ability to drive us toward something (healthy or unhealthy) in order to escape those threats. I spent much of my youth living on the fear driven side of the scale; either running towards denial or running away from reality and pain. Like many people today I too experienced those dreaded demons who whisper words of phantom doubt and anxiety into the soul's ear, cultivating various forms of spiritual sickness and disease. It is a nightmare existence to live in constant and unceasing fear - fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of others, fear of self, fear of conflict, fear of authority, fear of things beyond our control, and fear of retribution. For many of us this list has the potential go on and on, forming an endless litany of despair.

How are we to live a life centered in Christ if we spend a life immersed in fear? The answer is quite simple; we can't!

The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

"Blessed is the man who trusts the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by water that sends its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8

I want to be like that tree planted by the water; a clean, clear and nutrient laden water; one that provides spiritual refreshment and growth; a living water that brings peace and calmness to the very core of life's storms; a water that cools and refreshes the heart, even when the heat of life creates a parched and dusty drought. When our roots are spiritually deep, planted in the rich soil of Christ, we suddenly experience what it means to lead a faith driven life. Those deep roots are grounded in trust; a holy and unbending trust in God, who provides the sustaining nutrients our spirits and consciousness need to live. In Jesus Christ we find an unconditional love that when tapped into, we are able to experience the benefit of a joy filled confidence.

The true fact of the matter is spiritual droughts will always occur in this life. Challenges will rise and fall with whatever season we find ourselves. There are days in which we will feel parched and dry; we may even find ourselves in a desert. But if our spiritual roots are spread out and firmly attached to Christ, the one thing we can most assuredly count on is God's living water. In the most barren time it will bubble up and nourish our hearts, minds and bodies.

The holy and life giving spirit our hearts long for is God. He is the nurturing water that gushes out of rocks, rises out of sand and flows through dry desert crags. Christ is the living water that gives rest to the weary, strength to the weak, love to the reviled, calmness to the restless in spirit, and peace to those who are desperate.

While fear will always exist in this world and constantly assault us, looking for any crack or crevice to breach our faith, know that in Christ there is an endless ocean of hope that is filled with grace and love. In Christ Jesus nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.