Mark 14:50-52
And they all left him and fled.
And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
Tag: Fear has no Confidence or Modesty
In the above passage we see the stories of the disciples the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested by the religious leaders of the day. The mob mentality began to do what it often does ... destructive behaviors. The disciples, although spending years following Christ and seeing all the miracles, began to disperse in fear. The fear they had of the mob and the powerful religious leaders trumped all the teaching and observations they had accumulated over the past three years. They had no confidence in what they had observed, in light of the mob in front of them. The tyranny of the urgent was more dominate than the teaching of the Savior. They feared for their lives. Yet, within weeks they would be standing in the streets and the Temple proclaiming a risen Savior (see Acts 3-4). Note Solomon’s wisdom here:
Proverbs 28:1
The wicked flee when no one pursues,
but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Righteousness emboldens us. After Christ rose from the dead and the Spirit of God fell upon the disciples they were clothed in an alien righteousness from Christ (1 Corinthians 5:21). That gave them power and their fears no longer controlled them. Prior to the righteousness of Christ being poured into them they were timid and fearful and lacked even basic modesty. But, as Paul told Timothy, once we are clothed in righteousness we are no longer timid:
2 Timothy 1:7
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
We can praise God for this and no longer have to run when no one is pursuing. God is our power and our strength as He clothes us in His righteousness. Without the knowledge of God’s righteousness in our lives we are fearful and even run away, lacking modesty. We look foolish and stupid. That is how the young man in the above verse appears as he leaves his linen cloth on the ground and runs. Yet, when clothed in Christ righteousness we are bold as lions. Not because of something we have done, but because we believe and know that Christ dwells within us and emboldens us. Note Peter’s prayer after his first sermon and he was threatened to be locked up and even beaten and killed if he preached about Christ again:
Acts 4:29
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
Being clothed in righteousness gives us boldness and confidence.
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