A Perspective on Fear
One of the ways that I get out of the Christian bubble is by volunteering my time as a police chaplain. It makes for some interesting stories to be sure. I was on a ride-a-long last friday and I got into some great conversations with the officer I rode with. I asked him all sorts of questions. One of them was “Do you ever get afraid?” His anwer kind of startled me.
“Never.”
“Really?” I said. To me, I thought he might have just been trying to be macho or keeping up with the tough cop image. Lucky for me he must have seen my perplexed look and he felt compelled to elaborate.
“I trust in my training and the other officers around me. What is there to be afraid of?”
“I don’t know, the unknown?” I confidently fired back. And then it dawned on me how lame I sounded. Was I afraid of something?
I have been replaying that conversation in my mind all week. What if I viewed my Christian life like this? What if I looked fear in the face and gave it no concern because I was so confident in my God and in those who God had put around me? And I began to see a beautiful image of how we should act as believers. Suddenly, 2 Timothy 1:7 makes more sense. We are not to live with fear and uncertainty of the unknown, but with confidence and passion that we are well equipped for what is before us. Bring on the unknown.
This is the personal blog of Jeremy Jernigan. Husband, father, teaching pastor, and student of truth.
This is probably your best post since I have been reading your blog. Think of how many people would want to be part of the revolution of Christ if they saw his followers today live without fear of the unknown. We would be an army to be reckoned with to be sure. Well stated my friend. Satan does not want us to live without fear because with it he keeps us in bondage. We serve a God that defeated death and proven that nothing, not even death could hold him down. If that does not get someone pumped, then someone needs to check their pulse.
You got it!
2 Timothy 1:7–”God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power…”
That great philosopher, “Life isn’t over till it’s over and it ain’t ever over!”
Charles Watson