DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: Luke 12:4-5 – “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear; Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Fear of people is a natural innate feeling that we experience as children and can follow us into adulthood. As we age some of us tend to lose this fear. Whether it is from maturing physically or developing skills that help us to push through these feelings, it becomes evident that when we face our fears in this life, they aren’t as bad as we had expected. Now this doesn’t suggest that you become reckless in your pursuit of challenging fear. It does mean that we take a different approach when presented with a fearful situation.
Take the human experience for example. We at times fear men because of our lack, inabilities, self-consciousness or inadequacies. We don’t want to be embarrassed or look incompetent. We don’t want people to know the real us. Whatever the case, the driving force of fear cripples us and destroys our lives because it allows us to give power over our lives, our decisions and our thoughts to another human being who is basically as messed up or in the same situation as we are. Why give someone that much power over you and how you operate?
Although humans can be cruel and make us feel out of place because our deficiencies, the Word of God suggests even in that, they aren’t the ones we should fear. As we fear human beings, we live our lives in the mode of thinking who we need to be or where we can go or what we can’t say or do; it’s a life of being constricted to and in bondage of a person’s stature, position, intimidation or prestige. And even at worse if all a person can do is harm you mentally, emotionally or physically, that shouldn’t be enough to have them dictate you course in this life.
Now on the other hand, if fear is a driving force – a motivating factor that makes us conform to a specific type of living and be aware of who we’re around or how we talk or where we go or how we handle situations, then maybe it would serve our souls greatly to look at God in regards to fearing someone. Contrary to on a human level, God has the ability to do far more to our lives and even our souls if we don’t take him seriously and fear what he is capable of. At best when you walk into a room full of football player you may feel a fear of being pummeled beyond belief. On that same token, how do you think you should feel when you walk in the presence of God as a known sinner? We all have to get to the point in our spiritual maturity to see that it’s vastly more crucial to be concerned about what God thinks about how we live our lives in relation to what we know he’s told us to do in his bible than to be concerned about whether or not if someone likes you.
Today, our prayer is that you evaluate the direction of where your fears are positioned in your life. Instead of having a great fear of being fired, being hit by a car, or even flying on an airplane we should look to refocus the fear to the one who not only controls all of those things you fear but can do far worse to you if you don’t take him and his words seriously. A healthy fear of God will motivate you to do what is right in his eyes. If you’re trying to live up to others expectation or for another person’s approval – STOP IT! Be more motivated by God because fearing him will help you to run toward having your soul saved! That’s the driving effect of fear that you want! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!