The Fear Factor

Recently, after preaching a sermon on fear, a friend of mine approached me. He said, “I’m not afraid of anything. That’s why I have these broken ribs. I should have been afraid of that horse!”  Being fearless can be dangerous.

Few of us are really fearless. We all fear something at least once in a while. Maybe it is hard to admit, but we can get down right scared at times. What’s a Christian to do?

As Christians we want to learn to face the fears that confront us with godly courage. We also want to embrace the fears that keep us on the straight and narrow, like a healthy fear of sin and complacency.  I guess you could say that there is good fear and bad fear. Here I will focus only on the bad kind, the kind that robs our faith and makes us cowards.

Let’s be realistic. There is a lot, in the natural, to be afraid of in today’s shaky world: the bird flu, bioweapons, dirty bombs, Iran nuking Israel and setting off WWW III, and liberals taking control of this country. These potentialities are enough to keep anyone up at night. If we have children in our care, our fears on their behalf can be greatly multiplied.

I want to avoid waxing too theological and focus for a minute on our humanity. In the age of the “super Christian” being human is not very popular.[1] Some of us don’t even know how to do it anymore. But, we are human and as such we face various fears on a regular basis. Most of us will admit that we are at least fearful at times. Others may be honest enough to admit they are afraid most of the time.

II Tim: 1:7 states that it is not God’s will for us to live life in the fetal position. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and discipline (NASB).  Let’s explore how we can live in the peace and reality of this passage.

Let me share a little on a personal level. Recently while rusticating at my mountain home in North Georgia, I was awakened in the middle of the night by one of those things that go bump in the night and scare the bajeebees[2] out of you. My eyes popped open and I realized I was in a state of fear-induced rigor mortis. Although I survived the incident I began to meditate on fear and why it plays such a large part in our lives.

As I continued to meditate, I opened my Bible one Sunday morning and confirmed my suspicion. Fear is the very first emotion mentioned by name in Scripture. Adam and Eve had succumbed to the temptation of the Serpent. They ate of the fruit and the narrative in Genesis 3:8-10 describes the first time in history a human being felt and confessed fear:

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?"  He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

There are approximately 450 mentions of the word “fear” or some form of it in the Old and New Testaments. Fear is a big deal in human experience.

I was a very fearful child.  It seemed like there was little I didn’t fear back then. I was relieved to learn later in life that very intelligent people tend to be fearful. This totally   explains my fears, at least to my satisfaction.

But specifically, as a child I was terrified of “the bomb.” This was common among people living in the fifties. I also was afraid of the Wolf Man and Dracula. I was smart though. I kept all the necessary monster remedies by my bed. I had a cross to repel Dracula and a silver bullet to take out the Wolf Man. Whenever I saw a monster movie, I would get the proper monster remedy and add it to my bedside collection.

My downfall came when I saw the movie The Giant Claw, a movie about a million-ton bird that swooped down from the sky, grabbed people and carried them off. It took an atomic cannon to kill it. It was extremely difficult in the fifties for a nine year-old to get hold of an atomic cannon. Being defenseless, it wasn’t long until I had a terrible nightmare about the big bird. For months, it was hard for me to sleep at night fearing a repeat of the horrible nightmare. Thankfully, my fear of girls finally replaced my fear of the giant claw.

I have grown out of all my childhood fears, except one. To this day, I don’t sleep with any important body parts hanging off the bed. I am still convinced there is something under the bed or in the closet. You can make fun of me if you want to but you know it’s true especially if you saw the movie Monster’s, Inc. It is a documentary!

Seriously though, maybe you were never afraid of monsters. However, I’m sure you have struggled with fears throughout life whether realistic or not. So, as Christians, how do we handle fear? Why should a Christian have fear at all? Doesn’t the Bible tell us to “fear not”? If God is really watching over us then what is there to be afraid of? These are fair questions.

The fact is that we shouldn’t fear. We shouldn’t sin either, but we do. Fear is just part of the fallen human condition. But, fear can be managed. It can be biblically approached and remedied. Fear does not have to control us.

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there. You’ve probably heard this proverb before. It sounds good in a sermon and the concept has some biblical support. However, it is easier quoted than lived out in every day life, isn’t it? When fear raises its ugly head faith can and hopefully does give us the strength to face the fear, but it rarely removes the fear itself.

A strong faith in Christ can overcome fear. It doesn’t always eliminate it. The feeling of fear often remains. So, is it sinful to feel fear? Does this mean we are cowards and lacking in faith? Absolutely not!

Susan Jeffers wrote a book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. The title itself describes well how we actually can handle fear with our faith. We may still feel the fear. So, we choose to act appropriately anyway. The fact that we feel fear is not an accurate barometer of the depth or strength of our faith. Our reaction to fear can be.

Jesus invaded history in human form. He was God, but He was man too. Aren’t you glad he was?  I believe He felt fear when he faced the cross. But, thank God he went. His love for us overrode the fear. His faith in the Father overrode the fear.

I’ve heard many a testimony of people, of all ages and genders, who are deemed to be heroes. There is a common thread that seems to run through their testimonies. Those who do incredibly courageous acts confess that they feel the fear but they simply don’t let it stop them. They just do what they have to do. This is what we must do, too.

The remedy for fear is to first understand it for what it is. It is a danger signal that God has built into each of us. Fear warns us of possible danger, both spiritual and physical. It is something we should listen to, evaluate, and act on if necessary.

Fear is not always a reliable reflection of reality. My childhood fear of monsters was irrational since there were no real monsters, at least not the kind I feared. My fear was real, of course. The monsters were not.

Fear can motivate us to do good things or it can paralyze us and keep us from doing good things.[3] It’s our reaction that counts. And, as in all things, the Scripture is the standard for the proper action and reaction.

In conclusion, let us righteously fear those things that need fearing such as God, sin, and spiritual complacency. Let us face the other fears in life and act accordingly. We must draw on our faith to face the fear-challenges of life. The only other option is to wallow in debilitating fear. I wish I had understood this when dealing with the giant claw and girls.

The bottom line is: Don’t fear fear. Rather, fear not reacting to it with Godly faith.

This is what I think. What about you?

By Ralph C. Barker Click here for bio and archived articles