DON'T BE AFRAID OF YOURSELF

DON’T BE AFRAID OF YOURSELF

You may not know it, but I have the fondest affection for poetry.  So I will share one of my all-time favorites with you.  It’s a poem by Robert Frost, popularly known as “The Road Less Traveled,” but originally entitled “The Road Not Taken.”  Enjoy, and I’ll add a bit of application afterwards!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

My friend, please remember that when the major events of faith were proclaimed in The Holy Writ, they were typically preceded by the following divine pronouncement: “FEAR NOT!” (Luke 2:10)  In fact, this powerful phrase appears (in one form or another) approximately 170 times in scripture.  By the sheer number of biblical inclusions, it seems obvious that GOD IS TRYING TO TELL US SOMETHING, a mission-critical truth that reveals one vital aspect of our faith journey, i.e. the need to have TOTAL TRUST IN GOD and to have COMPLETE CONFIDENCE IN THE DIVINE PURPOSE that has uniquely positioned us on this planet.

Believe it or not, SOME PEOPLE EXIST IN LITERAL FEAR OF THEMSELVES.  Consider this.  While it is actually commendable to embrace ‘getting along’ with others, you and I were not created to BLEND IN with every person or situation.  Just because someone does not seem to understand you, i.e. those individual quirks and idiosyncrasies that are part and parcel of your overall life experience, there is absolutely no need to discard or diminish yourself, becoming a carbon copy or clone of others.

Bottom-line: DON’T BE AFRAID TO TREAD LESS TRAVELED ROADS AND MANIFEST YOUR UNIQUENESS.  Truthfully speaking, when GOD made YOU, He threw away the mold!  Please understand the spirit of my words.  In no way am I seeking to minimize CHRIST (or others) and maximize YOU.  After all, true believers are being daily conformed to “the image of Christ.” (Romans 8:29)  What I am saying here is that there is something so uncommon and special about GOD’S DESIGN AND DESTINY FOR YOU that (as you are being transformed into the image of His Son) The Father never seeks to nullify or eliminate the particular PERSON(ALITY) that He specially crafted on the day of your birth.  Therefore, you must understand it; you must embrace it; and, you must use it for HIS glory.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!