Here’s a rule of thumb that may help you; if you’re afraid of someone – find out who they’re afraid of! Most of you, and most people, actually – would say that they either respect or love Jesus. It would be a narrow fringe of people who would say, I’m scared to death of Him! When you look at the records of His life, it’s fascinating to find out that fallen angels, evil spirits – were scared to death of Him.  They begged Him to leave, to treat them well; they had to ask Him for permission to do things. There’s a reason for that, you know – based on Who He is – and what He came to do and reclaim and make right. To believe in Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus, to invite Jesus into your life – is to be His ally, His friend, His servant. And, believe me, that has huge implications about fear and all of it’s causes – and what it’s trying to prevent Jesus from healing in us!

Jesus once made the comment; “If you’re going to be afraid then fear God.” That’s actually what faith is; it’s fearing God more than whatever else you’re afraid of.” To fear God is to respect Him. That is, to respect what He’s said about Himself, what He’s said about His love for you and about His attention to detail – and what He’s said about what will happen to all of our enemies – including death! Fear is always an invitation to disrespect God. Faith is an invitation to trust God. For faith to work – it has to be EXERCIZED! That is, made to work, to sweat, to breath hard, to burst cells and build muscle! Like anything, without exercise, faith atrophies.

Don’t know if you’re up on pigs or not, but pigs are omnivores! Put it in front of them – bread, fruit, veggies, meat, garbage, tin cans, old car batteries, and they’ll eat them! Well, maybe not all that stuff… but most of it! Fear is an omnivore, too. Put your dreams, your emotional health, your future, your friendships, your time, the investment of your life in front of it – and it will be gone! Here’s the problem – specifically; feed an appetite and… it GROWS! Jesus made the comment, “Don’t feed your pearls to pigs!” Why?  Cause they don’t care. They’re pigs! Getting those pearls back is, well, messy! There are some things you never get back. Like the chance to live your calling!  

What creates fear in us is the perceived price tag on doing what is right – and what we know in our hearts God is asking of us. Our minds are very creative and create disaster scenarios in Sensurround – including sights, sounds, smells, pain, gore, shame, and defeat.  Where our minds are not creative is in understanding the price tag of giving into our fears and letting our imagination steal our future – instead of investing in it! Is there a price tag on doing what’s right – what seems so scary and dangerous? Absolutely! But then, there’s a price tag on anything worthwhile. AND there is a way bigger price tag on chickening out and making excuses.

As we’ve been saying all along since initial onset of COVID, caution is always something God advises. We see this from the health guidelines in the Book of Leviticus to the wisdom of Proverbs. But FEAR? Never. Our call is to respect the power and calling and love of God more than our fear. Honestly, doing what God wants will always take faith – faith that gives us courage when our hands are shaking and our stomach is hosting a butterfly convention. God never gives us a full preview of what He’ll do – He just says, Trust Me!  You’ll be glad you did! The giants we’re afraid of are real! Very real! They’re just not bigger than the God we serve!