Fear Not
Here’s an interesting fact:
The command “fear not” is mentioned in the Bible 365 times.
That’s a lot!
Fear not. To not be afraid. I wholeheartedly believe this is a command. It is never written: “Don’t be afraid if you feel like it”
No!
This two word sentence is a firm instruction!
We are told to not fear. So when we disobey and allow ourselves to be sustained in a place of fear… does that count as a sin?
I heard Steffany Gretzinger once say: “Fear is the most tolerated sin within the church”.
“Woah, woah, woah,” you may be thinking. “I don’t believe in that. It doesn’t apply to me.”
“What even is sin?”
I believe sin is different for every person. There are some very clearly defined sins throughout the Bible that apply to everyone and then there are some really vague suggestions on how to live. Romans 14 talks about how we all have different convictions and how something that is a sin to one person may not be a sin to another.
My understanding of sin? It is anything that distances you from God. If something is keeping you from your relationship with God then it is a sin. Whether from your own flesh or a demonic influence, when something pops up in your life that either takes the place of God or makes you live in a place of shame and takes you away from him, that is sin.
So how is fear a sin?
Well to start, just disobeying the command of “fear not” is wrong. Disobedience is a sin. What does that disobedience look like, though?
I don’t believe it is a black and white, clearly drawn line in the sand. Just like different people have different convictions, the sin of fear can look different for different people.
I don’t know that it is possible to live on this earth without feeling the emotions and physical expressions of fear. Even the most “brave” people feel fear. Fear motivates us at times, it can even keep us safe. God created our “flight or fight” reaction. He allows us to feel fear.
I believe it is the partnering with fear, however, that gets us in trouble. When we LIVE in a state of fear, that's the problem.
Fear also can take our eyes from God. When we are afraid we are imagining a life without God. We box God in and do not believe he can solve our problems, or he doesn’t care to solve them. Fear takes us further and further from the relationship with him we were created for.
But, even if you do not believe that fear itself is a sin, let me ask you this.
Have you ever not done something you knew you really should do because you were afraid?
James 4:17
“If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, to them it is a sin”
Our inaction can be a sin just as much as our actions.
When we let fear keep us from doing what we are supposed to be doing, then we are living in sin AND withholding from others the good that the LORD has for them.
Fear is a tolerated sin. It's even celebrated at times.
But just because everyone else is doing it, just because everyone else lives like “fear not” is just a suggestion…
Does that mean that you should, too?
