How to Survive

It is interesting to me how many fears and phobias have been identified in recent years. People are afraid of everything. I suppose to some degree everyone is afraid of something. People are afraid of the dark, of spiders, of heights, of water, of being outdoors, of snakes, of mice, of small places, of large places, of crowds, of loneliness, of fire, of sharks, of the elderly, of young people, of cities, of trying something new, of God, of tradition, of the unfamiliar, of the quiet, of guns, of motorcycles, of the Amish, of clowns, of ________ (you can fill in your own fear.

Although we know that most of our fears are unfounded and silly, we harbor them nonetheless. We support our fears and even encourage them. Often we seem to be proud of our fears. We brag about how foolish they are. And yet we keep on fearing.

Our vocabulary is filled with cliches about fear and the lack of fear.

• Have no fear
• Be bold
• Carpe diem
• Live the adventure
• Have fun all the time
• Do not worry about what other people say, think, gossip, or do where you are concerned
• Live to be happy and for no other human

The Christian faith is based on two things, fear and faith. Both of these have been somewhat misused through the years. We have tended to encourage people to be afraid of the wrath of God at the expense of a clear and fair picture of God's love and grace. We also want to chastise each other (and ourselves) for our lack of faith.

Here is what I think. Faith in itself is a gift from God. You cannot manufacture it yourself. Faith in God does two things. First of all, it eliminates most of the fears in your life. The Bible teaches that fear does not come from God. It is opposed to God. Faith in God will keep you from fears and phobias that paralyze and trouble you.

The second thing that faith does is to help you to have a healthy fear of God. Fear of God, in this context at least, should be interpreted as an awesome respect, or a submissive and complete love for God. We should not be living in terror that God is going to wreak havoc on our lives. But rather, that our love is a response to the power and love that God has for us.

So, the bottom line is this: Fear God and nothing else!