Fear

The concept of fear was something that I thought deeply about once a couple years ago. It started with a simple question on a sugar packet at TGI Friday's. It was, "if you had no fear, what would you do?" My answer without thinking was, "i'd kill myself." But why would i say such a thing? So i started thinking about it? Is that really true? I started asking the question, what are some of the things that we do not do in this world because of fear? Skydiving(jumping out of a perfectly good airplane), flying, heights, eating certain foods, deep sea diving, and even joining the army. Most(not all humans) do not take risks. We value our lives more than the risks of losing it. I'm not saying that there aren't many other sort of fears(i.e. speaking in public), but i think this idea of having a fear of death is something we all experience at least once in our life.

So, if you get rid of all your fear mortality would seem...trivial. I used to think that fear was a good thing, but now I seem to think differently. After thinking about this now, I have everything backwards. As a Christian, fear holds one back from serving God completely. One has to either trust God completely or have fear in that God doesn't know what He's doing and take control of your own life. This life is short, but eternity is never ending. One cannot be satisfied unless one is serving God, and this means taking risks. Just looking at Paul, one can see all the risks He took to send out the message of Christ to the Jews and Gentiles. He could not have done that unless he had cast all his fears on God and let God take care of Him. Yes he died, but not until God allowed it to happen.

God wants us to put our trust in Him rather than ourselves to overcome the paralyzing affect of serving Him. Should we enter war-torn areas to spread the word of God? Maybe, maybe not. I believe that it's God's decision. It's our ability to trust him is the biggest thing that hinders us from doing what is right.

the movie, "end of the spear" shows how missionaries were murdered by the tribe, but in the end, the spouses of the murdered men were able to reach the village for Christ. What do we make of this? Should we let go of fear all together or...keep a sense of fear to keep us from doing something "too" dangerous. Maybe we believe that our life is more important than someone else? I believe that this is THE hardest thing for a Christian to overcome. We never consider that dying for Christ is an option. Maybe that's why there are still unreached places in the world? We are too scared and too settled in our own Christian comfort zone to see the calling that is around us. We are all guilty of this...but what will it take us to understand that fear is something that God can take care of, not us. We are too ignorant and too self-centered to understand there is someone who is willing to take care of us more than a deer in the wilderness and considers us more beautiful than the most magnificent flower in the world. Fear has made us frozen.

My answer should've been, "serve God more fully"
We should also ask ourselves "What is fear keeping you from doing to reach others?"

Changed lyrics to Globus - Orchard of Mines

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You can’t change your life with the sins of the past

Is the shame still there inside?

You seem like a wandering soul

Just take one breath at a time

And you are scared to love

So broken on the inside, you cry in darkness

Open your eyes to the light in the sky

And you will see through the shame in your soul…soul

I’ll say it as the truth, I can’t see your life left in ruins

Christ’s death can give, can give you great joy

Life seems so incomplete, driven by pride and shame

Be weary as you look, look around you

And you are scared to love

So broken on the inside, you cry in darkness

Open your eyes to the light in the sky

And you will see through the shame in your soul

To know, to touch, to taste Christ’s love

Can you accept this great gift

Can you not see, the only true path

Can you accept…

[interlude]

To know, to touch, to taste Christ’s love

Can you accept …

Can you not see, the only true path

Accept…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lsrvX8c59U