Our Only Legitimate Fear

I often feel vulnerable after preaching. Is it because teachers of the Bible will be judged more strictly (James 3:1)? Am I apprehensive about whether I have correctly handled the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)? Dare I admit, reader, that sometimes there are other fears that emerge from the darker corners of my heart. Did I make a fool of myself? Have I exposed myself as a hypocrite? Will people still like me after what I said? Did they agree? Am I still respected? Have I been ignored?

Maybe it concerns you to think that I worry about such things. It concerns me too. Yet how often do we end up fearing the wrong things? It helps to be reminded that Christians have only one legitimate fear. Jesus talked about it while preparing the Twelve for their first missionary journey (Matt 10). He used the opportunity to describe what would happen to His disciples in the future as a result of preaching the gospel message. They would be flogged, arrested, charged, betrayed by family members, put to death, hated, persecuted, pursued from one town to another and accused of being satanic (17-25). This list is a compilation of one’s darkest nightmares! Yet Christ says “do not be afraid” of the people that do these things (v26) but keep doing the very thing that will attract their attention: preaching the gospel (v27).

How can Jesus tell us not to fear torture, betrayal and persecution? Is He minimising them? By no means! It is just that by comparison the pain of these is insignificant when contrasted with the agony of eternal separation from God (v28). And if fear is your true master, eternal separation from God is where you are headed. Christians cannot have two masters. Jesus did not purchase your life with His precious blood so that you could obey someone else.

Our only legitimate fear, therefore, is the one that leads us to revere and obey God as our one and only master. Every other fear must be crucified just as we were crucified with Christ. What fear is God asking you to crucify today? Whatever the fear is, do not let it master you. Do not allow fear to shape your life or colour your decisions. Submit only to Christ and reject all other masters. Yes, this may lead to hardship, but such “light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (1 Cor 4:17).