Do Your Fears Control You?

It is amazing what fear does to us. It is just as amazing what fear reveals about us.

Fear will keep people from forgiving others. Fear becomes the barrier that keeps them from being hurt. They are so afraid of being hurt that they do not want to allow others to get close to them. They can't get hurt from those who are far away. Fear reveals those who feel very inadequate. They are so afraid of losing that they do not want to put themselves in a position where they can lose. They don't want to compete so they don't want to allow people close enough to hurt them.

I know of a case where a husband learned that his wife had pre-marital sex with someone else before he met her. He has been so afraid of trusting her even though she has never been unfaithful to him since she met him. She kept her vow to him . He feels hurt that she has been intimate with another man albeit before they met. He despises this other man and has even come to despise his wife. He is pushing her away because of his fear of being hurt. This fear is consuming him.

Fear will keep people from winning. These people hoard everything they get. They take their earnings and sock it away because they are afraid of "rainy days" which will siphon off their surplus. They are guaranteed to lose in the bigger sense because they have failed to try to win. Playing it safe is the worst kind of safety. It prevents success. It assures mediocrity. It makes everyone's cup half empty.

Pastors often malign the mega-churches. They drop by to see their cathedral ceilings, massive seating capacity and opulent furnishings. The criticize while secretly wishing they were in one of these churches. They do not realize that the pastor and people had a time when they heard from God and put security in His hands to venture into the building of these buildings. These mega-churches believed something more than their fear could stop. They became winners because their fear ceased to control their decisions.

Fear reveals how big your God is. Is He really the Almighty or is He just mighty? Can He do all things or most things? Can He give you the strength to overcome anything of just the strength to tolerate anything? Does He grant forgiveness so that you will forgive or does He hold back some things so that you also don't have to forgive all things? Fear will keep you from believing in a God who will do all these things. Fear will make you have a false God. You really can't make God smaller; you can only believe He is smaller.

All of us have some measure of fear about some things. The trouble comes when we allow that fear to control us. We must abandon our fears if we are to live godly, successful, significant lives. There is no joy in fear. There is no praise in fear.

The only fear we should have is a godly fear. This fear is one of being afraid of disappointing God. This fear is good for us. All other fears need to be given to Him. Otherwise your cup will be half empty rather than "running over."

Do your fears control you?

Psalm 55:22 (NIV)
²²  Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.