What do You Fear?

 Fear is an interesting concept. It can keep us alive; It can paralyze us. Healthy fear starts with a correct fear of God. Proverbs 9: :10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. When we fear God, it leads to understanding and obedience, which leads to preservation of life, both physical and spiritual. A healthy fear of electricity can lead to understanding, which can lead to being able to harness its power safely. I fear gravity, so I am careful when walking high trails or working on roofs and ladders.

Understanding fear can be very freeing. I often summarize a situation and enumerate all the possible outcomes I can imagine, both good and bad. Think: What’s the worst that can happen? If I can accept any outcome, It allows me to go forward and work through the problem rationally. Sometimes the answer is to not do something, but now it’s out of caution and wise thinking, not based on fear.

Fear can also be crippling. It can make people freeze, causing them to not act at all. This leaves then at the mercy of whatever is happening. It robs us of experiences and adventures. It can cause us to not do the right thing. We can be bound by the fear of what people think, fear of failure, and even the fear of death.

One of the things Jesus did when He died for us was free us from the fear of death.

  ^“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV

With no reason the fear the shadow of death, we are free to follow Him and serve Him wherever we are needed. There are some things I choose not to do (like skydiving or alligator wrestling) but I still don’t want to let fear master me. So what are you afraid of? Let’s get out there and live freely!