Fear Doesn’t Win

There’s no one who has not had to battle fear. At times, everyone has been afraid; whether you’re a 6’7” – 300 pound football lineman or a 40 pound 2^nd grader,  everyone has experienced fear ….  the weak and the strong. It’s interesting to note that we can experience fear not only when evil shows up, but with the unknown, and even when confronted with God and his goodness. In scripture when an angel shows up, the person confronted is afraid and they are told, “do not be afraid”.(e.g. Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, shepherds, etc.— Luke 1&2).  Often Jesus greets his disciples with, “do not be afraid, be at peace.” It seems that fear causes us to lose our peace; peace and fear don’t seem to co-exist very well. So, how do you handle fear? 

Well, it’s important to know that everyone experiences fear at times. It’s not true that if you experience fear, you’re a coward and you’re weak. In truth if you don’t experience fear at times, you are probably deluded. A key to look at is “how do we handle fear”. An important first step when we experience fear is to ask for help. 

“I’ve got a problem here and I’m afraid, please help me.” Maybe we need to call a policeman, a fireman, a doctor, a priest , or a friend. Yet the best first step is always to ask Jesus to help …. “Jesus help me, I don’t know what to do here, I’m afraid, I’ve lost my peace and I’m about ready to freak out…. Jesus help me.”

When I was little, I felt that if my dad was around, I had nothing to fear; my dad could take care of any problem and that was generally true. Better yet, when Jesus is at our side, we absolutely have nothing to fear. He loves us and is a lot bigger and tougher and fiercer that the worst bully around …..  whether it be the bully of the unknown, of mayhem, of failure, of rejection, of disappointment, of poverty, of sin, of sickness, of Satan, and even of death. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; with Jesus at our side, all will truly be well…. and we don’t have to be afraid. The truth will set us free.

Without the Lord at our side, we should be afraid. In truth , the world we live in is under the influence of the evil one. (1John 5:19) We can see that much of our country and the world has turned from God and the results can be very fearful….. for us and for our children. Each of us has a terminal illness that is eventually going overtake us… be it cancer or heart disease or accidents, or old age. Yet with Christ at our side, we have nothing to fear. He will eventually work all things to the good for those who love him. (Rom. 8:28) As we place our trust in the Lord, all will be well.  We can enjoy this life . We can be happy men and women. We can love God and love our neighbor. We can push back the barriers of sin. We can help advance his kingdom even on this earth.

So we don’t have to pretend that there are not fearsome things that surround us at time and that suffering is often present. We just need to know that Christ has won the victory over these fearsome things….. over sin and Satan and death and all its effects. We will help each other as these enemies attack us. We will stand with one another as Christ stands  with us. Let’s enjoy this life with all its trials and tribulations knowing that in the end, Jesus wins, and all will be well with our souls. And that is very good news.