Ramblings from Retirement – Scaredy-cats

Ramblings from Retirement – Scaredy-cats
By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen
April 27, 2021

There is a little grey cat that lives next door that thinks she is a mighty bird hunter. In fact she has already killed at least 3 birds at my front yard feeder and at least 2 in the backyard. So we have begun to keep an eye out for her and when she heads into or across our yard we chase her away. The other day she was in the midst of stalking some finches who were feeding. In the middle of her final stalk where she was bunching up to jump I opened the door and hissed real loud. She jumped about four feet, twisted in the air, and ran off like she was shot out of a cannon. It was hilarious and reminded me of a passage that the Apostle Paul wrote his friend Timothy: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV84)”

Paul was writing a young pastor who was facing all kinds of struggles within the local church and outside of the church both in persecution and personal power problems. Evidently Timothy was trying to be a “nice guy” instead of being a Christian leader. His kind nature was getting in the way of being decisive and was causing divisions. A church without direction is worthless and believers who live in fear are as well.

People look for leadership whether it is in the local church, in the Nation, or in the world. Sadly the world is more interested in using memes or inflammatory rhetoric to create divisions, camps, and walls. As believers in Jesus Christ we need to focus on Him instead of the fear mongering of others. We do not need to be scaredy-cats in our world. A virus, politics, or being in the world at large should never frighten the believer.

Remember it is the devil who desires to keep you afraid and fearful but if you’ve believed in and trust Jesus you never have to be afraid. Don’t be a scaredy-cat but instead remember “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Live like it.

This article is copyrighted © 2021 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.

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