As we conclude our series on fear, God has one more message for us. Like many of God’s messages, this one can be a little hard to hear because sometimes God asks us to do very hard things. He asks us to let go of what we desperately want to hold onto by giving or forgiving. Instead of fighting back, God calls us to love back even when everything in you wants to see them get their comeuppance. The Bible teaches us there’s a better way to live. It’s not just better because you’ll feel good about yourself but because God’s way of life really is the better way of doing life.

That truth is easy to believe when we feel we’ve lost all control of our lives. When life is coming undone, we seek God with all our heart in desperation. But when life is looking good, too often we feel we’ve got things under control and we don’t need to lean on His wisdom or His strength. It may seem like an odd way to end a series on fear, but the truth is, if we want to live a life free of fear, if we want to live the good life, we must remember the good life is the obedient life. Dallas Willard summed it up just right, obedience IS abundance.