Here is the question of life itself. What can man do to me? When we consider it plainly, the answer is very simple. Men can take our belongings, they can ruin our reputations, they can take our liberty, they can take our lives. But ask yourself this question: can not all of these things happen to us anyway? We can lose our belongings to fire, to natured disasters, to our own foolishness... we can ruin our reputations by our own folly, by the failures that are simply part of being human... we can lose our liberty by disease, by the vagaries of life that lie outside of our control, to the law when we do not walk in wisdom... and of course, we will ALL one day lose out lives, for no man escapes this life without first tasting death. The things that we fear are either figments of our imaginations, or they are not. They will either happen, or they won't. Our fear will do nothing to change them, but it will change us. It will change our effectiveness in the things we are called to do. Instead of wallowing in the mire of fearfulness, we are called to trust the God who IS the only One worthy of fear. Further, we are called to trust the CHARACTER of the God who should destroy us for our sin, but instead offers mercy to all who ask. We are called to trust God's heart of love, of grace, of tenderness and compassion... where men seek only to destroy, where they seek only to gain every possible advantage, God lavishes His goodness on undeserving wretches. Of all the things to fear, only God should be feared, and the flavor of that fear should be in love and reverence. And my beloved, understand this fact - if we fear God, we need fear NOTHING ELSE!!!