Wednesday, June 16, 2010

How fears point us to God

CNN has an article on their site called, "Who's afraid of snakes, spiders, vomit?" While the article deals with phobias it brings up a good point for Christians to consider. The very first time that we see fear mentioned in the Bible is when Adam tells the God that he heard Him and was afraid and hid himself (Genesis 3:10). Fear is a result of the fall and I think that in all of eternity this will be borne out. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-control. The main thing here is that power, love and self-control are all things that put fear to death. It is even this idea of self-control that counselors use to treat phobias. What should our goal be as Christian living a God focused life? To be so consumed with a desire for God and His kingdom that the things of this earth that produce fear in us are minimized. To put it another way we can say that we do not fear man or beast because God has ordained the day of our death (Hebrews 9:27). Men may try to intimidate us but we do not fear them because the power of God is greater than that of any man. Ultimately the thing that will fill our heart with the confidence we need to face and overcome fears of all kinds is the love of God filling and permeating our hearts. 1 John 4:18 says “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.” The love of God experienced in the context of a relationship with Him will fortify our hearts against fear.

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