Day Thirty-Six | April 4 THIRTY-SIX

Saved from Fear

The last days of Jesus’ life were coming too fast for the disciples. Jesus was teaching incredibly deep parables about the Kingdom of God. He was being hammered with trick questions from the religious elite. The disciples were trying to take it all in; but deep in their hearts, things were spinning out of control. They had to be thinking: How can we help? What can we do? There were trick questions about taxes and our heavenly bodies that Jesus responded to. And then a lawyer came and asked about the greatest commandment in the Law. He hoped to stir a great debate among the teachers. But Jesus answered in a deftly brilliant way: by quoting two of their most familiar Scriptures. He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:3739).

All of our fears and all of worries about how we live for our Savior are answered in heeding two simple commands: loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We are set free from fear when we choose to focus on love every day of our lives.

President George H.W. Bush lived an amazing life full of action and passion. At his funeral, his son President George W. shared the secret of his dad’s spirit. He said: “To his very last days, dad’s life was instructive. As he aged, he taught us how to grow old with dignity, humor, and kindness – and, when the Good Lord finally called, how to meet Him with courage and with joy in the promise of what lies ahead. One reason dad knew how to die young is that he almost did it –twice. When he was a teenager, a staph infection nearly took his life. A few years later, he was alone in the Pacific on a life raft, praying that his rescuers would find him before the enemy did. God answered those prayers. It turned out He had other plans for George H.W. Bush. For dad’s part, I think those brushes with death made him cherish the gift of life. And he vowed to live every day to the fullest. Dad was always busy – a man in constant motion – but never too busy to share his love of life with those around him.“