Faith

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NO FEAR! You may have seen this on windshields and T-shirts, and may have even found the wearers to look a little scary. Generally, the exhibitor of the NO FEAR logo is a participant in a dangerous sport. Sometimes, having “no fear” is a risky posture.
Everyone has one or more fears. We might fear death, pain, embarrassment, poverty, rejection, heights, water, people, or missing a deadline. Personally, I fear people who have no fear! Fear is one of our defense mechanisms. It can caution us in the face of danger.
Too much fear is unhealthy, and fearing things we needn’t fear is wasteful. It’s wise to be afraid of an angry hornet, but there is nothing to fear from a hornet who has lost his stinger. There is no threat.
As we grow older, fears tend to increase. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 outlines some of the frailties that befall us in old age. Besides those, we look at the worlds of politics, economics, and society, and wonder if things can get any worse. The biggest fear of all for most of us is the fear of death. That is the greatest unknown, and we fear that which we don’t understand and have no control over. Indeed, the Bible calls the fear of death a “life long bondage” (Hebrews 2:15).
The Bible also tells us that there is only one fear that should control us: the fear of God. For the unbeliever, that means fearing judgment and wrath. For the Christian, fearing God means standing in awe of His mercy and forgiveness and love. The one is bondage, the other is freedom.
Living a life with “NO FEAR!” of God may seem pleasant and profitable for a time, but ultimately leads to the loss of everything, even life itself. Jesus’ warnings in Luke chapter 12 talk of fear and its Satanic spawn, worry. Jesus says not to worry about what religious zealots think of you, even if they threaten to kill you. He says to “Fear him who . . . has power to throw you into hell.” He also said not to worry about what to say when called upon to defend your faith, for “the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Jesus talks about the rich fool who stored everything up for himself and did not consider God, then died and lost it all. Finally, he encourages those who worry about length of life, food, clothing, and money, by reminding them that God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, and will take care of us because we are worth so much more. Jesus sums up the correct philosophy when he says, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Trusting God’s provision eliminates worry.
For the Christian, the fear of God is not terror, but respectful trust. The fear of punishment is gone (1 John 4:18). Fear of death is removed because we trust the one who has been there and come back (Hebrews 2:14, 15). Like the unarmed hornet, death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55). Jesus takes us safely through what the Bible merely calls “sleep” to be with him forever.
Fear for the believer is a good thing. According to Proverbs, it is the beginning of knowledge (1:7) and wisdom (9:10). It is to hate evil (8:13) and it prolongs life (10:27).
In summary, the only fear that really counts is the fear of God. It is the unbeliever’s motive to come to Christ, and the believer’s motive to walk by faith.

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