July 8

Written by Bill Grandi on July 8th, 2024

Do you know what a kissing cousin is? Please don’t give the obvious answer. 🙂

No. A kissing cousin is an idea, thought or action that is similar to or often goes hand-in-hand with another. For today’s devotion, I thought of two words/emotions which are kissing cousins: Fear and worry.

We all know what it is like to be gripped by fear. It can paralyze us. It can make us irrational. It can make us combative. Fear can also freeze us in our place, make our mouth go dry and send chills up and down our spine. Watch a really scary movie and take note of your reaction. (I’d rather not thank you very much).

Fear has a kissing cousin: worry. They often work in tandem. This past weekend I was speaking with a young man and he was talking about the company he worked for. I talked about the commercials I have seen and how well done they are and how they show people working together. Happily, he praised the PR/advertising folks and he also talked about their product and how he liked working for them. Then he made a sobering statement which set me back.  He said the economists with the company were predicting a recession, a slowdown in the economy at the end of ’24 and the beginning of ’25. In fact, they said it was going to be worse than the recession of ’08. My first reaction was one of “Oh boy.” Not positive but negative. Part of me wanted to hunker down; part of me said, “What am I afraid of?” As the pastor of a church that wants to-needs to-and he been planning and saving for an expansion for over 4 years, I started thinking, “Is that wise?” “Should we stop saving and planning?” “Should we become ultra-conservative?” “Should we continue saving and keep waiting to see what happens?  (Fun fact: we have been saving over 4 years because our plans have always been to build as we have the money),

Fear and worry can paralyze us. Corporately. Individually. The truth is we have nothing to fear. As people used to say a lot in the recent past: “God’s got this.”

Fear and worry take a back seat when I believe that He is in control and that I trust Him. Instead of letting fear and worry hold hands in the back seat, let’s put them in separate car seats. Better yet, let’s banish them completely.

 

6 Comments so far ↓

  1. We cannot be ruled by these two dangerous ‘kissing cousins,’ Bill. We can, and will, move forward in a positive and optimistic manner when we trust God to act in all situations we face. He is our all in all.
    Blessings!

    • Bill Grandi says:

      That is exactly what I was trying to say only you said it better. 🙂

  2. We gain nothing by giving in to fear and worry. In fact, it robs us of peace and satisfaction. With God’s help we can push them out the rear doors!

  3. gail says:

    We just have to keep in mind, that things may be out of our control, but God is always in control. The enemy loves to pounce on worry and fear, the enemy can only penetrate our armor when we give him the opening to do so. Phillipians 4:6-7 Psalm 55:22
    John 14:27 Isaiah 35:4 Trust God, to not only walk with you through the struggle, but to show you the path to the other side.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      Your first line says it all Gail. It is remembering that truth that makes a big difference.