A Word on Fear
"We have lived in fear, and our fear has betrayed us."
This is a line from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, the Oh Hellos, called "I Have Made Mistakes".
Today, I want to talk about fear.
In the past, I've been afraid to take risks, so I tried to avoid things I thought I couldn't be good at.
I've been afraid to get hurt, so I never climbed too many trees, or tried to backflip off a trampoline!
In middle school, I was afraid of not fitting in or being cool.
In high school, I was afraid of AP Calculus. I know! I'm scared to even say the word. Calculus!!!
Going off of that, I have to take Calc 2 in the Fall! Please keep me in your prayers.
In recent months, I have struggled with fear of people's perception of me, even to a level of social anxiety. Also, I've feared the thought of dating relationships. In fact, I've never actually had a girlfriend. I admit it! I am honestly content in being single. (Philippians 4: 11-13) I believe that our society has idolized relationships and mass-produced the lie that you need a significant other to be worth anything. Maybe we can save that for another post. But on the flip side, it seems like many guys, especially in the Christian community and myself included, have been afraid of dating relationships. Many of us Christians have taken the phrase "guard your heart" to the extreme and use it as an excuse not to be vulnerable and honest with those we may be interested in. For a while I've been afraid to date, and it is definitely an unexplored area of my life, but I'm tired of living in fear.
This last year, somehow or another, I lost confidence in who I was. I became depressed at times and very hard on myself. I feared peoples opinions and worked hard to do what I thought I needed to do so people would approve of me.
God has recently been bringing me out of this, and it's been really liberating. He's been showing me that it is okay to be myself. I no longer try to be someone I'm not just to impress people.
So already, I've addressed a few different fears in my life. Now let's take a look at the concept of fear.
What exactly is Fear?
According to good old reliable Wikipedia, "Fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to quickly pull far away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger."
Where did fear come from?
Fear has been here since the fall of mankind. When Adam and Eve sinned, forgetting their identities (as we covered last week), what did they do when they realized what happened? They hid. Why did they hide? Remember, hide and seek hadn't been invented yet so it wasn't just for kicks and giggles. They hid because they where afraid. Afraid of what? A God whom they had just disobeyed.
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” - Genesis 3:8-10
The wikipedia definition of fear aligns very well with what we see in the Genesis account. Fear is caused by a perceived danger and the possibility of pain. In our lives, fear can sometimes be coupled with shame or regret. Maybe we messed up, made a mistake, or didn't measure up, and we were filled with regret and shame. Fear can also manifest itself in the form of anxiety, a crippling stress from the fear of being exposed to hurt or failure.
Here's the problem with fear though: it doesn't profit us anything. Like the Oh Hello's said, it betrays us. It keeps us from living an abundant life. It keeps us from knowing and experiencing God's love and doing what we were made to do.
As a side note, I think it's important to mention that fear can be a good thing. For example, our family goes to Smith Lake, Alabama about every summer, and there's a three-story cliff that we like to jump off into the lake. At first I was really scared to jump off, but I eventually got the courage to just go for it! You want proof? Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfQJx53MMzU
So to clarify, I'm not saying that it's wrong to be afraid of things that are clearly dangerous! However, there are two very important fears we need to address that actually determine the direction of our lives.
The Fear of God and the Fear of Man.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEAR GOD?
There are two Hebrew words for fear toward God mentioned in the Bible.
The first one is "pachad" which indicates a terrified dread.
Though in our culture we don't like to talk much about judgement or punishment, the bible does say that God is a just God, and therefore must punish sinners. It wouldn't make sense for God to allow murderers, rapists, and adulterers into heaven. Yet God is so just and holy that he has to punish all sins like lying, stealing, etc. (Read Galatians 5:19-21) This is bad news for us because we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23)
But if you read on in the very next verse of Romans 3, you'll find that we can be "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." That's the good news!
But for those who have not received God's gift, there is a fear of God's punishment.
The second Hebrew word for fear is "yirah" which is synonymous for reverence or awe. This is a different kind of fear toward God for those who are in Christ. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
When we recognize God for who He really is, the all-knowing and all-powerful creator and sustainer of the universe, we cannot help but stand in awe. This is a healthy fear because it allows us to actually read God's word and obey what He says, knowing that He was the one who designed the world to work a certain way, and if we follow His instructions, we will be blessed. If we don't, we'll have to learn things the hard way. An example of this would be like when my mom warned me not to touch the hot stove when I was younger, but I decided to experiment anyway. I could have listened and learned but I chose to learn the hard way. Or rather the hot way.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEAR MAN?
When I say fearing man, I'm not talking about androphobia! (the fear of men)
I'm talking about being so concerned with what others think of you, that it will guide the way you live your life. This is an unhealthy and detrimental fear to have. It leads to the making of foolish decisions just to fit in with a certain crowd, it hinders you from stepping out of the norm and being your unique self, and it keeps you from taking a lot of really cool opportunities because they might ruin your reputation.
In the Bible, King David had times where he had seemingly good reason to fear man. There were times where he was surrounded on all sides by his enemies. Before he became king of Israel, King Saul hated him and tried to do whatever it took to kill him. David literally had to flee for his life! Yet in the midst of all that, look at what he says.
"In God I trust and I am not afraid. What can man do to me?" Psalm 56:11
"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Psalm 118:6
Here are two points I want to close out with:
POINT #1: We Either Fear Man or God
We are always either fearing man or fearing God. When David realized how great his God was, and that God was on his side, he had absolutely no reason to fear his enemies. He had a yirah fear of God, which allowed him to trust Him no matter what the circumstances. So for me, whenever I start concerning myself with the opinions of other people, being afraid of failure or rejection, I know that I am not fearing God. There is a trade-off. You can't fear both at the same time.
POINT #2: Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear
1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
So John tells us here plainly: When we have love, we are not afraid.
When we realize how much God loves us, there is no reason to fear anything. Romans 8: 38-39 is a great verse to go along with this idea.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Here's good analogy a friend of mine gave me last week on fear:
Walking down a dark ally alone, there is definitely reason to be afraid. Walking down a dark ally with a huge body guard next to you carrying a large machine gun changes everything!
My question for you is this: How big is your Jesus? Do you see him like that huge body guard or as some cute cartoon figure in a children's bible that can't really do much?
We need to stop fearing what other people think, and start revering the great God who can move mountains, believing that the Jesus, who calmed the raging seas, gave sight to the blind, and raised people from the dead, loves us so much and has something awesome in store for our lives.
Let's stop fearing people's opinions today and trust in the great God that loves us so deeply.
Oh, and go listen to that Oh Hello's song!
-Marc
This is a line from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, the Oh Hellos, called "I Have Made Mistakes".
Today, I want to talk about fear.
In the past, I've been afraid to take risks, so I tried to avoid things I thought I couldn't be good at.
I've been afraid to get hurt, so I never climbed too many trees, or tried to backflip off a trampoline!
In middle school, I was afraid of not fitting in or being cool.
In high school, I was afraid of AP Calculus. I know! I'm scared to even say the word. Calculus!!!
Going off of that, I have to take Calc 2 in the Fall! Please keep me in your prayers.
In recent months, I have struggled with fear of people's perception of me, even to a level of social anxiety. Also, I've feared the thought of dating relationships. In fact, I've never actually had a girlfriend. I admit it! I am honestly content in being single. (Philippians 4: 11-13) I believe that our society has idolized relationships and mass-produced the lie that you need a significant other to be worth anything. Maybe we can save that for another post. But on the flip side, it seems like many guys, especially in the Christian community and myself included, have been afraid of dating relationships. Many of us Christians have taken the phrase "guard your heart" to the extreme and use it as an excuse not to be vulnerable and honest with those we may be interested in. For a while I've been afraid to date, and it is definitely an unexplored area of my life, but I'm tired of living in fear.
This last year, somehow or another, I lost confidence in who I was. I became depressed at times and very hard on myself. I feared peoples opinions and worked hard to do what I thought I needed to do so people would approve of me.
God has recently been bringing me out of this, and it's been really liberating. He's been showing me that it is okay to be myself. I no longer try to be someone I'm not just to impress people.
So already, I've addressed a few different fears in my life. Now let's take a look at the concept of fear.
What exactly is Fear?
According to good old reliable Wikipedia, "Fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to quickly pull far away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger."
Where did fear come from?
Fear has been here since the fall of mankind. When Adam and Eve sinned, forgetting their identities (as we covered last week), what did they do when they realized what happened? They hid. Why did they hide? Remember, hide and seek hadn't been invented yet so it wasn't just for kicks and giggles. They hid because they where afraid. Afraid of what? A God whom they had just disobeyed.
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” - Genesis 3:8-10
The wikipedia definition of fear aligns very well with what we see in the Genesis account. Fear is caused by a perceived danger and the possibility of pain. In our lives, fear can sometimes be coupled with shame or regret. Maybe we messed up, made a mistake, or didn't measure up, and we were filled with regret and shame. Fear can also manifest itself in the form of anxiety, a crippling stress from the fear of being exposed to hurt or failure.
Here's the problem with fear though: it doesn't profit us anything. Like the Oh Hello's said, it betrays us. It keeps us from living an abundant life. It keeps us from knowing and experiencing God's love and doing what we were made to do.
As a side note, I think it's important to mention that fear can be a good thing. For example, our family goes to Smith Lake, Alabama about every summer, and there's a three-story cliff that we like to jump off into the lake. At first I was really scared to jump off, but I eventually got the courage to just go for it! You want proof? Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfQJx53MMzU
So to clarify, I'm not saying that it's wrong to be afraid of things that are clearly dangerous! However, there are two very important fears we need to address that actually determine the direction of our lives.
The Fear of God and the Fear of Man.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEAR GOD?
There are two Hebrew words for fear toward God mentioned in the Bible.
The first one is "pachad" which indicates a terrified dread.
Though in our culture we don't like to talk much about judgement or punishment, the bible does say that God is a just God, and therefore must punish sinners. It wouldn't make sense for God to allow murderers, rapists, and adulterers into heaven. Yet God is so just and holy that he has to punish all sins like lying, stealing, etc. (Read Galatians 5:19-21) This is bad news for us because we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23)
But if you read on in the very next verse of Romans 3, you'll find that we can be "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." That's the good news!
But for those who have not received God's gift, there is a fear of God's punishment.
The second Hebrew word for fear is "yirah" which is synonymous for reverence or awe. This is a different kind of fear toward God for those who are in Christ. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
When we recognize God for who He really is, the all-knowing and all-powerful creator and sustainer of the universe, we cannot help but stand in awe. This is a healthy fear because it allows us to actually read God's word and obey what He says, knowing that He was the one who designed the world to work a certain way, and if we follow His instructions, we will be blessed. If we don't, we'll have to learn things the hard way. An example of this would be like when my mom warned me not to touch the hot stove when I was younger, but I decided to experiment anyway. I could have listened and learned but I chose to learn the hard way. Or rather the hot way.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEAR MAN?
When I say fearing man, I'm not talking about androphobia! (the fear of men)
I'm talking about being so concerned with what others think of you, that it will guide the way you live your life. This is an unhealthy and detrimental fear to have. It leads to the making of foolish decisions just to fit in with a certain crowd, it hinders you from stepping out of the norm and being your unique self, and it keeps you from taking a lot of really cool opportunities because they might ruin your reputation.
In the Bible, King David had times where he had seemingly good reason to fear man. There were times where he was surrounded on all sides by his enemies. Before he became king of Israel, King Saul hated him and tried to do whatever it took to kill him. David literally had to flee for his life! Yet in the midst of all that, look at what he says.
"In God I trust and I am not afraid. What can man do to me?" Psalm 56:11
"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Psalm 118:6
Here are two points I want to close out with:
POINT #1: We Either Fear Man or God
We are always either fearing man or fearing God. When David realized how great his God was, and that God was on his side, he had absolutely no reason to fear his enemies. He had a yirah fear of God, which allowed him to trust Him no matter what the circumstances. So for me, whenever I start concerning myself with the opinions of other people, being afraid of failure or rejection, I know that I am not fearing God. There is a trade-off. You can't fear both at the same time.
POINT #2: Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear
1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
So John tells us here plainly: When we have love, we are not afraid.
When we realize how much God loves us, there is no reason to fear anything. Romans 8: 38-39 is a great verse to go along with this idea.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Here's good analogy a friend of mine gave me last week on fear:
Walking down a dark ally alone, there is definitely reason to be afraid. Walking down a dark ally with a huge body guard next to you carrying a large machine gun changes everything!
My question for you is this: How big is your Jesus? Do you see him like that huge body guard or as some cute cartoon figure in a children's bible that can't really do much?
We need to stop fearing what other people think, and start revering the great God who can move mountains, believing that the Jesus, who calmed the raging seas, gave sight to the blind, and raised people from the dead, loves us so much and has something awesome in store for our lives.
Let's stop fearing people's opinions today and trust in the great God that loves us so deeply.
Oh, and go listen to that Oh Hello's song!
-Marc
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