PARANOIA IN REVERSE - All Our Daily Bread Daily Devotionals for 2026

Our Daily Bread - Sunday, July 11, 2016
by RBC Ministries

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PARANOIA IN REVERSE

READ:
1 John 4:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
-1 John 4:18

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Psalms 1-3
Acts 17:1-15

I remember watching television news reports in 1991 as the non-violent revolution took place in the streets of Moscow. Russians who had grown up in totalitarianism suddenly declared, "We will act as if we are free," taking to the streets and staring down tanks. The contrast between the faces of the leaders inside and the masses outside showed who was really afraid, and who was really free.
Watching the newsreels from the Red Square on Finnish television, I came up with a new definition of faith: paranoia in reverse. A truly paranoid person organises his or her life around a common perspective of fear. Anything that happens feeds that fear.
Faith works in reverse. A faithful person organises his or her life around a common perspective of trust, not fear. Despite the apparent chaos of the present moment, God does reign. Regardless of how I may feel, I truly matter to a God of love.
What could happen if we in God's kingdom truly acted as if the words of the apostle John were literally true: "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). What if we really started living as if the most-repeated prayer in Christendom has actually been answered - that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven? - Philip Yancey
Far, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear. - Gerhardt

Feeding your faith helps starve your fears.

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