What Are You Afraid Of?

"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."-1 John 4:18

There are a few things in life that I am afraid of. I am petrified of bees, mainly because I was attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets, so now I freeze at anything that buzzes. I have a fear of ticks, there is no reason really, except for the fact that they are the ninjas of the insect world and climb up stealthily to suck your blood and leave you with lyme disease.

 I also have an irrational fear of porcelain dolls. I can only blame the horror movies I watched as a kid and the influence they had on my imagination, but still, those little things are creepy.

Then, I have the fear of failure. It just got real. I have the fear of failing my wife as a husband.
I have the fear of not being a good dad to my awesome kids. I have a fear of failing the kids in my youth ministry. I have a fear of failing as a pastor. Ultimately, I have a fear of failing Jesus.

This fear is natural, but not healthy. The enemy, Satan, will try to influence my fears. The fact that I have fears and I admit them opens the door for his attacks on my self-esteem, my self-worth, and my self-perception. The fear of failure is established by the darkness of his work and his mission to end the message of hope given to us by Christ.

The idea of fear is not the issue because we will all face it, but the idea that I will allow fear to hinder me in my pursuit of who Christ has called me to be is the problem.

Christ has called me to be a husband who loves and cares for his wife the way Christ loves and cares for His Church. I have been called to be a dad that teaches his children the ways of The Lord and encourages them to live for Him. I have been called to be a pastor who lives above reproach. I have been called to serve the students in my ministry and guide them in their walk with Jesus. I will not be perfect, but through Christ I can be what I’m supposed to be.

Yet, through my fear, I can become limited. I can be stifled in my growth and development as a follower of Jesus.

I turn that fear over to Christ and allow Him to move through me in the process. I still have the fear, but it does not control me because of Jesus.

We all have fears. We all have things we allow to keep us from going further or longer in our life. Our fears keep us from pursuing a deeper relationship with friends or a romantic interest. Our fear keeps us from pursuing Christ’s call because we feel inadequate or we don’t know if we can match up to what He wants. Fear tells us we aren’t worthy of His love or worthy of doing more for Him.

So we stop!

We stop before we experience more. We stop before we get too deep. We stop before we see what is on the other side. We die in the desert because we feared Christ’s ability to use us in spite of ourselves.

Satan wins.

Today, you need to ask yourself, “What are you afraid of?” and “Why?”

Then, you need to lift it up to Christ and allow Him to truly embrace you and push you forward. We will not be perfect. We will fail. We will not match up. Why? We are human. There is nothing we can do on our own to be better.

Through Christ we are made whole and given the ability to live freely. He uses us regardless of our flaws and failures. He knows what we are capable of or He wouldn’t call us to Himself.

Your fear is natural, but letting it control you is evil. Satan wants you to die in the desert, but Christ is calling you to follow Him to the promised land. Go forward. Move in faith and trust. Your fear is built upon your doubt in yourself and God…LET THAT GO!

I turn my fear over to Christ and allow Him to move through me in the process. I still have the fear, but it does not control me because of Jesus. I have freedom from fear and am not hindered by it anymore.

May you embrace the truth of Christ. May you embrace the freedom in faith. May you know that Christ has freed you from fear.

Let us let go of our fear of failure and move in the One who never fails us!

Peace and blessings friends!

QUESTION: What fear holds you back from fully trusting Christ?