Why is fear so dangerous?
Not long ago, my wife and I had an interesting chat with someone after church. He was in full camouflage gear which was a bit surprising because it was a pretty hot day. As we shook hands, I noticed that his hands were sweating. What’s happening here?
We had a good talk about our town. He had grown up and lived here for the last 35+ years. As we talked, his tone turned from negative to increasing concern. I asked about the camo gear, and he said that he was going to go up into the Sierra high country to hide out. He said our town was filled with dangerous individuals and things were getting out of hand. We tried to cheer him up with positive affirmations that God was at work and even offered to pray with him where we could lean into the issues. He was interested but pretty focused. He was what I call “stuck” in his ideas. As my wife and I discussed this on the way home, I started to piece together what was happening. It seems like he was completely bound up in fear.
Fear is prevalent in our culture today, and honestly, I’ve had to battle it myself. I use two techniques: taking my thoughts captive and submitting to God, then resisting and telling evil to leave (James 4:7). Fear is very fresh and relevant to me. But why is fear so dangerous? Let’s remember a few key concepts.
The system of evil runs on fear. God’s system runs on love. Here are some well know verses.
“...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tm 1:7).
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 Jn 4:18).
As our love is perfected (made more complete), we transition out of the evil system of fear and into God’s system of love. We embrace the bold and everlasting truths that believers in Christ’s finished work on the cross will not be punished, but be rewarded when we meet God. And so, Paul says, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
So, the more we embrace the current fear of this age, the more we allow evil to have its way in our lives. That means we move away from God mentally, emotionally, spiritually. This brings us back into spiritual bondage, something we know can easily happen. Paul calls this out in Gal 5:1.
When we embrace fear, we give up our victory. We no longer walk in the freedom Jesus bought for us. When we embrace fear, we take our eyes off Jesus the author and perfector our faith (Heb 12:2).
I don’t know about you, but I have experienced a wave of fear running across our country. It’s everywhere, even in our churches. But we are, and need to remain, people of power, love and self-control. We can pray with Paul that the eyes of our hearts would open to the power that we have in Christ (Eph 1:18-19). God is the everlasting, all powerful God, and it is His power that we call upon. It is available for our use when we can understand how to use it. As Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18-19, let’s ask God to open the eyes of our hearts to the power available in us and through us. We must.
But don’t forget that we are also people of love. In Christ, we can have genuine love and compassion for people who are captured by fear. And because we have a sound mind, we can quiet ourselves in God’s presence, gain His wisdom and speak it into our age. God can still set these captives free!
If we let others draw us into fear, we forget that God is and always has been on His throne and is working his plans among us. We have our part to play as co-laborers. But God is in control and always will be. Fear need not control us, because we know that the most powerful being in the universe, who loves us with an everlasting love, knows what is happening and is bringing about his divine plans in His time.
Fear not, for He is with us wherever we go.