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24 Oct: Living Unafraid
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Romans 8:15
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:14–21
“Don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel was the law we lived by,” writes Frederick Buechner in Telling Secrets, “and woe to the one who broke it.” He’s describing his experience of what he calls the “unwritten law of families who for one reason or another have gone out of whack.” In his own family, that “law” meant Buechner was not allowed to talk about or grieve his father’s suicide, leaving him with no one he could trust with his pain.
Can you relate? Many of us in one way or another have learned to live with a warped version of love, one that demands dishonesty or silence about what’s harmed us. That kind of “love” relies on fear for control—and is a kind of slavery.
Jesus offers an entirely different posture. His invitation stands miles apart from the conditional, walking-on-eggshells affection we’re always afraid of losing. As Paul explains in Romans 8:15, Christ’s love rescues us from living under the thumb of fear, ushering us into the “glorious freedom” described in Romans 8:21 once we finally grasp how deeply and unconditionally we’re cherished.
With that kind of grace anchoring us, we’re actually free to talk, to trust, and to feel again—stepping out of survival mode and into a life lived unafraid.
By: Naomi Chandler
Go deeper on: Living Unafraid
Reflect & Pray
Are there any unspoken “rules” you’ve learned as conditions for acceptance and love? How might you live differently if you believed you didn’t have to follow those rules to be loved?
Loving God, at times I’m afraid to live honestly with myself and with others—thinking that by doing so I’ll no longer be loved. Heal my heart, and help me believe in and live for the glory, freedom, and joy Your love makes possible.