There’s a scene in Home Alone where Kevin gets geared up, has had enough of being scared, and he marches outside his house, shouting: “I’m not afraid anymore…did you hear me? I said, I’m not afraid anymore!”
He then is confronted with Old Man Marley. He “knows” all about Old Man Marley…his brother told him that he should fear him…that he’s dangerous…that he will kill him…
So upon one look from him, Kevin hightails it back into the house, screaming like a maniac, slamming the door behind him.
You remember the scene. And haven’t we all been there?
The Lord tells us to fear not…to take courage. We don’t have a spirit of timidity, but of POWER…(2 Tim. 1:7)..So we feel empowered, and we march out to face the world.
And then we come face to face with our Old Man Marley. Every person’s Marley is different.
- You finally get the courage to walk into church or a bible study or an event because you desire fellowship…but you perceive that someone is giving you a ‘look’. A ‘look’ that you feared…so it sends you running.
- You finally settle in your heart that you will worship the Lord as He commands…with all your being…and you encounter a ‘look’ again…so you retreat.
- Take anything that you’ve been conditioned to be afraid of: worship, praying out loud, being honest, being real, the power of the Holy Spirit, surrendering control…when you step out into those things…Old Man Marley will confront you.
But when Kevin ran from him, it wasn't this grand gift of discernment that caused him to flee. He was just outside the comforts of his home, and confronted with something he’d been trained to fear…Old Man Marley was the 'unknown'.
But it turns out:
The trash can Old Man Marley was dragging wasn’t for dead people…it was the salt that would keep him from slipping.
Sometimes the thing we fear is carrying the substance that makes our path good for walking.
The shovel he carried was not only for clearing a path, but proved as a mighty weapon for clobbering Kevin’s real enemies later down the road.
Sometimes the thing we initially fear…is the very thing that saves us.
But you have to step out of the comforts of home to find it.
