Most of us have some fears in our life.  We’ve had things happen in our past that skew our perception of reality.  Now to give a few quick examples, we need only look to our mothers.  Now if your mother was like mine, she would tell you that she KNEW with 100% certainty, that everyone who played high school football would end up a paraplegic, and that the very first time someone decided to get on a motorcycle they’re going to get in a wreck and kill themselves.  To be fair though, let’s turn to the fathers.  Fathers KNOW with 100% certainty, that the minute their daughters go off to college, they’re going to forget to change the oil in their car, and they will have to replace the engine when it blows up.  Fathers KNOW with 100% certainty, that every boy their daughter dates, is in some way attempting to besmirch their daughter’s honor, and likely are a tool of Satan to accomplish this task.

Now these are extreme examples, right?  When confronted with someone who is clearly speaking or acting irrationally based on one of their fears, the first reaction is to try to explain their irrationality to them.  This is pointless, and unhelpful, and I’m guilty of trying myself.  The problem is this is that you cannot address the irrationality brought on by fear, unless you determine the root cause of the fear to begin with.  After all, the reality is that some football players are paraplegics, people do die on motorcycles, daughter’s do forget to change their oil and have their engines blow up, and who knows… that boyfriend just might be a tool of Satan, ha ha.  (Shotgun’s loaded just in case…)

The physical manifestations of fear, however, can have little to do with the actual root.  A mother who doesn’t want her son to ride a motorcycle might not be afraid of her son’s health, as much as she is of being alone in life.  Maybe her father left her family when she was young, and now she wants to hold her family so tight, that nothing could happen that they might leave.  Maybe the father, who claiming concern over his daughter’s oil, is afraid of not being useful anymore.  Maybe when he was younger, his own father used to tell him that he “wasn’t useful for anything”, and so he associated usefulness with affection.  Now that his daughter doesn’t need him as much, he’s afraid her affection for him will fade as well.  There’s a million different examples, and the truth is that no one is going to find that out after 5-10 minutes talking with someone.  It takes a person who really wants to grow being willing to ask themselves questions about why they do certain things, and why they feel like they do about certain things, and then asking why they feel/act that way about the first answer.  This process can go on for multiple levels, like peeling back layers until someone finds the root fear that is causing their behavior.  What is interesting is how often it is seemingly distant from the physical manifestation.

What is amazing is how these root level fears bind us in ways that are unhelpful, and often sinful.  It’s amazing at the amount of joy God has prepared for us, that is missed by misplaced fear in our hearts.  In the Bible, we are told that we should fear only one thing, the Lord.  That fear is the beginning of wisdom – all other fear is the beginning of sin.

Psalm 111:10 – “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;all those who practice it have a good understanding.”

Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

We all have fears, based on something in our past, based on our individual experience in life; and by not addressing them through introspection and scripture, we default our emotions to be led by them.  The fear of the Lord is not something that is innate to us – Psalm 111 says that it is something that is practiced.  The encouragement we have as believers in Christ, is that in Him we have everything we need to overcome those fears, to have life, and joy, and peace.

1 John 4:19-20 – “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  We love because he first loved us.”

How does perfect love cast out fear?  Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  When we fear, apart from God, we fear some sense of lack, or that something bad will happen to us.  Being “perfected in love”, is finding everything you need in the gospel of Christ, so that while you might be tempted into fears, you can practice the fear of the Lord by proclaiming His steadfast love as superior to anything else the world would offer you.  For those of us who have feared the Lord, we fear His name, because He is the Holy One, Perfectly Righteous, but we no longer fear judgment.  Psalm 118:4 – “Let those who fear the LORD say,”His steadfast love endures forever.”

Have you ever stopped to be honest with yourself about your own fears?  What are your fears about marriage?  What are your fears about your job?  What are your fears about family?  What are your general fears that impact how you live?  My encouragement is to spend an hour or two really thinking about what these fears are and where their root lies.  Ask yourself the question “why do I feel this way” repeatedly until you come to a peace about the root of a fear, pray through that time seeking the Holy Spirit’s illumination, and then look to scripture to see how your identity in Christ and His love for you frees you from bondage to that fear.  We are free to love because God first loved us.  We fear God, but rest secure the steadfast love of God, that in Christ, we have EVERYTHING necessary for this life, and a future hope of glory with Him.  My prayer is that this will a fruitful time for you, and I’d encourage you to share what you find with a fellow believer you trust, and asking their encouragement to practice the fear of the Lord, and accept the peace of Christ.  Know you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,
Adam