Fear.
We all fear something.
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Whether it’s something small like bees or spiders, something nerve racking like giving a speech or flying, or something big like disease or death.
Fear is present in all of our lives.
It’s what drives us to put on our seatbelt when we get in the car, what makes us look both ways before crossing the street, and what makes not “jump off of the bridge just because all of our friends are doing it.”
Fear looks different for all of us, but one thing that we all have in common is that we all fear something.
Being fearful is only natural in this world, and to be honest – it looks like we have a lot to fear! Our world is a messed up place and it only seems to get scarier every day. If you’re lucky enough to have a grandparent in your life you’ve probably heard them say “back in my day, we didn’t have problems like this!” and while it’s a funny cliché, it’s also a sad truth.
You’re probably thinking, yeah, the world is scary – we already know that, so what’s your point?
My point is that fear is a choice.
We don’t have to be afraid of the bees or the spiders, giving speeches, flying, or even death. There is someone I know that came to conquer all of those things so that we might live a life free of fear, and his name is Jesus.
“Fear is a powerful enemy of our faith and a strong deterrent to the believer’s peace of mind. Fear of war, terrorist attacks, disease, and pollution can rob of us our trust in God.”
Even if you are a follower of Christ, this can be a hard concept to grasp. It is easy to let our fear get the best of us sometimes.
Trust me, I know.
This fear can keep us from living our lives and obeying the actions that the LORD has called us to do.
We are hesitant to share the gospel because we are afraid of rejection.
We are too nervous to spend a week in a foreign country, aiding those who need our help because… well, who knows what could happen.
We are afraid to obey the Lord because we’re not sure that his requests will fit in with our plans… and countless other things hold us back from making a difference.
When fear gets the best of us, we have to be reminded that if we truly know Jesus and we are doing our best to follow his will…
We have nothing to fear,
Not even DEATH because in death, we have LIFE!
It is important that we pray and ask God to remove every inappropriate fear from our hearts and help us to fear only Him.
Take Jeremiah for example, God appointed him to bring his word to “nations and kingdoms”. His job was not only to warn the Jews, but all the nations of the world about God’s judgment on sin. That’s a pretty scary job – he had so many reasons to fear!
Jeremiah faced many great trials… and our problems may not seem as significant as Jeremiahs, but they are significant to us, and God cares about the most insignificant little issues we have going on in our lives.
God’s promise to Jeremiah and to us is that “nothing will defeat us completely; God will help us through the most agonizing problems.”
We are called to face each day with the assurance that God will guide us through it, and to be fearless in this world because really, what is there to fear if everything we’re afraid of has already been conquered at the cross?
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” – Isaiah 7:9
“The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread” – Isaiah 8:13
