FEAR of LOSS
By Lee LeFebre
Loss can come in many forms. It can hit our financial portfolios, our relationships, our health, our prestige, and our position at work. We will see how much power such things have held over us when we observe how
we react to their loss.
Those of us who teach the cross and the life see over and over again that loss is the way of the cross.* Luke 9:23-25 gives us this statement from our Lord: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?"
Many times God uses loss
to show us our false gods, impure motives, pointless goals, hollow securities and "broken cisterns." For My people have commit- ted two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).
How we react to the loss will reveal whether or not we are broken cisterns. For example, if the loss of a farm causes an identity crisis (I don’t know who I am anymore), then God has exposed a problem. If the loss of a loved one sends us into a seven-year depression, we might be missing the circumstances God has used to enable us to discover who our treasure is.
When I mention the cross, I am distinguishing
the work of the cross from the work of the blood of Christ. The cross is a means of execution, of death, whereas the blood is an instrument of cleansing and forgiveness. When we experience the cross, we have our
death with Christ made real in our experience.
When Jesus told us the cost of discipleship, he also told us our first birth relationship needed to be sanctified in order to experience our new relationship in Christ. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sis- ters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26-27). Is discipleship worth this risk? Will Jesus really provide a better love in the exchange of life?
Discovering Where Our Treasure Is
There are several causes of depression. Although the majority of depressions are due to the insufficiency of self-sufficiency and the missing power of Christ in both the carnal Christian and the non-Christian, there are organic issues that can affect people as well. There are bipolar disorders which are often attributed to lithium imbalances. Post Traumatic Stress Disorders present difficult journeys for military people. Hormonal imbalances can cause organically based depressions.
Although medications can be useful
for many depressions, it is important to check if the person seeking help has experienced the cross. It is my experience that although the majority of Christians know the work of the blood of Christ experientially, very few have experienced the cross.
There is a saying many grace life counselors use: "Stress plus time will reveal your functional source of life!" When loss is looked at in this perspective, it can be an encouragement in the midst of the pain. When our false source of life is revealed, confessed, and abandoned, Christ, through prayer, will reveal Him- self.
That is the goal, and it puts an end to the fears!
Next: Identity Theft.
