Fear Not


Meditation

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
(2 Timothy 1:7)

Before I was saved, you could say I was afraid of many things. I was afraid of the finality of death, because I didn’t know what came after this life, or if anything did. From what I learned in my early childhood, I remembered enough about church and God to know Christians believed in a heaven and hell. I would nervously sing the song lyrics that said, “I know that ain’t no heaven, but I pray there ain’t no hell. I say nervously because I really was fearful that hell existed. I would look at current events and become anxious about what might happen next. Wars, civil strife, poverty, disease, and many other daily occurrences, filled my heart with fear. As a child of the Cold War, I knew all of those were a distinct possibility. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t a debilitating fear, but fear was a constant companion in the midst of my thoughts.
After I was saved, I became a new creation. The old fearful me had passed away. Now that I belong to Jesus, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I do know what my final outcome will be. In fact, there’s probably more going on in the world today to be afraid of than before I was saved. I can’t imagine living in this world today without the assurance of eternity in heaven. It’s like I now have a super power, and nothing can hurt me. Over seventy times in the Bible we’re instructed to “fear not.” It doesn’t say, “fear not, unless you’ve got something really big to fear.” Whenever I think I’ve got something really big to fear, I remember I have a really big God who takes my fears away. If God does not want us to be in fear about anything, don’t you think we ought to obey?
There is a deep composure that comes from not being consumed with fear. The power of serenity is ours to share if we keep our focus on Jesus. Our outward display of peace of mind might attract the lost and allow us to tell of God’s love for them. After all, the lost are really just searching for something to hope in. We can show them that putting their trust in Jesus is better than the false gods of sex, drugs or the pursuit of money and power. Let’s use that power of love and a sound mind to bring the lost to the truth of Jesus Christ.




Prayer Time

Father God, you are strong and mighty. You have nothing to fear because you are the Creator of all things. You have also given us a spirit of courage, not of fear. It’s sometimes hard for us to go through daily life without dreading something. However, the subject of fear comes up over three hundred times in your scriptures, but never once do you tell us to fear anything but your scorn and punishment. Lord, empower our spirits to be free from our compulsive need to worry about everything. Remind us we are the children of the Most High God and therefore under his protection and guidance. We are loved in ways we cannot even fully comprehend. Human words fail to adequately describe what your love is because we don’t know how to love the way you do. Help us to be disciplined to serve you even on the days when we feel inadequate to the task. Help us to rely on your strength and not our own. Give us a spirit of love and compassion, like Jesus, for the unsaved we meet. It’s in his name, we pray. Amen!

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