“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
Sometimes our courage fails us, not because we lack courage, but because we lack the right kind of fear. We mistakenly think that the key to more courage will be more confidence, and so we lose our “Can!” attitude. After a while our attitude comes dangerously close to arrogance. In the blind race to gain more power, we forget the meaning of reverence. We no longer tremble before our Creator. We lose our fear of God. And at that point, lesser fears begin to dominate our lives.
Contrary to what many people think, fear is not always a bad thing. If we can find a way to remove all fear from our hearts, we will find ourselves not strong but weak. What is wrong with us most of the time is not that we are afraid, but that we have too little fear for those things. Needed Fear of. Fear is not the problem; This is what we choose to fear.
To be specific, there is too much fear in our relationships with other people because there is too little fear in our relationship with God. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” Jesus commanded, “but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” This is not a command that many of us take seriously, and as a result, we spend our lives in fear of what other people might do to us. However, a healthy measure of Godly fear will free us from this “human” fear.
Fear of God involves a remarkable irony. When we learn to connect with God with true reverence, we not only become more humble, but also more courageous. As we grow in recognizing our weakness against God, we also grow in recognizing our strength against Satan (2 Corinthians 12:9). In fact, Satan can do little to frighten those who truly fear God. No matter how powerful Satan may seem at times, he is a coward at heart. There are people he is truly afraid of, and he is most afraid of those who are not afraid of him. So we are told, “Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Haven’t we already wasted too much of our lives in unnecessary fear? Now it’s time to learn where real strength comes from.
“Where the fear of the Lord guards the door, the enemy cannot enter” (Francis of Assisi).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
