Fearless

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [Matt 10:28-29 NIV]

Why is fear so detrimental to our forward movement in Jesus? Why is Jesus so adamant about our not being afraid of anything other than Him?

It is amazing that I remember as a kid at night, I was so scared that I would put the covers over my head and breath as shallow as I could because I thought Dracula was real. I was so filled with fear I wouldn’t go to the restroom all night no matter how bad I had to go. In the morning, once the light of day came, I would run as hard as I could to the restroom. Most of us can relate to the fear that made us do funny things as kids, but we really don’t like discussing what fear causes us to do as adults. There are so many fears that even the books struggle documenting them all. Here are just a few: Astraphobia: fear of lightning; Chrometophobia: fear of money; Europhobia: fear of the color red; Cyberphobia: fear of computers (if this is you…thank you for taking such a large step and reading my blog!) Homilphobia: this is the fear of sermons (I have this every Saturday). Then there is even Phobophobia: this is the fear of fear itself! We are scared of a lot of things.

So why is all this fear so bad in God’s eyes? First you have to recognize that what ever you are afraid of, you are subject to. What I mean is what ever holds you in fear controls you. It calls the shots. Fear will stop us when we need to go. Fear will cause us to go when we need to stay. Fear will keep us quiet when we need to speak. It will make us speak when we need to be quiet. You are subject to what ever you are afraid of.

Solomon wrote: “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, because when we have a healthy fear of God, we make ourselves subject to God. It is interesting that God doesn’t tell us to be fearless, but instead He tells us to fear Him.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [Matt 10:28-29 NIV]
At the same time we are told that we are not to be afraid.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. [2 Tim 1:7NLT ]

How does this work?

It works in that we are subject to what we fear, and when we fear God, we don’t fear anything or anyone else. In a since, we are liberated from all fear other than the healthy fear that causes us to follow hard after Christ. Fear God and you will fear nothing else. Don’t fear God and you will be subject to all other fears.