a life without fear

October 7, 2005

the topic of fear came up in passing during a lecture last week. my professor discussed leadership in the new testament and eventually, we got to paul. paul's life was completely sold out for the cause of Christ. he lived his life with such reckless abandon, that he could proclaim the Gospel to all people, no matter the cost. paul was stoned, flogged, beaten up, ridiculed, jailed and eventually beheaded for his faith. if committing to Christ entailed all of that today, i wonder how many of us would run into the hills or cower in the shadows, hoping that we would never be chosen for such a life. Christ could very well ask us to such a life. when we commit our lives to Him, we are giving Him the rights and authority to govern us. it's His way, not ours.

paul could live the way he did because he lived without fear. his life was not governed by any external factor, person or circumstance. his life was governed only by the One who made him. paul did not fear death. in fact, he embraced it. if he died, he knew he would be with Jesus. there was nothing more gratifying and rewarding than that (see philippians 1:20-26).

we fear many things, don't we? death, the future, rejection, being alone, animals, insects, not meeting expectations, failure, the unknown, sickness, to list a few. the biggest cause for fear for humans is death. as Christians, death should be celebrated, because death means eternal paradise with our Lord. paul understood this, but most of us don't. we still cling on to this world, onto relationships and our own desires and ambitions.

lots of people say they aren't ready for death. i've heard my friends say it on countless occasions. since none of us know how long we have, the mentality is to get everything that we want to do accomplished and THEN serve God. do you see the problem? fear drives our actions. know this: the only reason why we are on this planet in the first place is to worship God, to do the things He created us for. we are not on this planet to accomplish our own agenda. we are here to serve our King and to bring glory and honour to His name.

the consequence of fear is simple. fear paralyzes. it freezes us in inactivity. one classic example of this is in a kitchen setting. a mother stands around when suddenly a mouse darts across the floor. almost instantaneously, the mother jumps onto the table and screams for someone to help her. the mother is frozen on the table. i wonder how many of us are like the mother who jumps on the table when something scares us. i wonder how many of us get stuck on the table.

here's the problem. fear never leaves us entirely. it does not go away. fear is a psychological and perhaps even a social construct. so unless you can somehow separate yourself from your mind, you are stuck with it. if we cannot find a way of dealing with our fear, we will always be mastered by it.

fear can also take our eyes off of God and puts it solely on what's right in front of us (if you were the mother and the mouse ran by, all you would see is the mouse—nothing else). how many times have you not done something because you were too scared to? how many of us have ignored the call of God because we were too scared at what might happen? how many times have we missed out the greatness and goodness of God because we just couldn't step out in faith? the Christian life was not meant to be lived this way. 2 timothy 1:7 [NIV], says "for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

in the movie daredevil, the daredevil was a force to be reckoned with. he could not be killed despite many attempts. he was unstoppable. why? because he did not fear death. even the most ruthless villain could not stop him. as one of the characters (from the movie) put it, "how do you kill a man who does not fear death?"

paul was fearless. the daredevil was fearless. both of them were extremely dangerous. both of them were forces to be reckoned with. both of them were unstoppable for their cause. both of them impacted their world. that's the picture of life without fear. that's the picture that ought to be of Christians. that ought to be the way we live. Christ has conquered death. the victory is ours! if death is truly what humans are most fearful of, we're all set.

what do you fear? what are you afraid of? take charge. do not be mastered by it anymore. submit it to the Cross of Christ and move in faith. walk in the knowledge of perfect love and let perfect love drive the fear away (1 john 4:18). live your life with reckless abandon for the cause of Christ.

a generation of Christ followers who would do anything regardless of their own cost, fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit would impact the world in ways we couldn't even imagine. that generation can happen. it can begin in us. and it starts with driving out fear.

"there is no fear in love. but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. the one who fears is not made perfect in love" - 1 john 4:18 [NIV]

note: a point of clarification might be in order for this post. it was brought to my attention that this post on fear does not include the fear of God. i definitely agree that all Christians must fear God because it's a Biblical principle. however, the point of the entry was to examine what the wrong kind of fear (worldly fear) looks like and the problems with it. the fear of God (Biblical fear) is another topic for discussion altogether.

Posted by Leo Chan at October 7, 2005 4:03 PM