“Should believers ever feel afraid?”
I get asked this question a lot, and it’s only been recently that I’ve felt like I knew how to answer it.
Yes. But that’s not the end of the answer, and when we learn that fear is an emotion AND a spirit, we begin to understand why there’s more to it than just that simple, one word response.
As we unpack the question, you’ll see that we should respond to the emotion, but reject the spirit.
One is from God and the other isn’t. We need to understand the difference.
You and I were made to respond to the emotion of fear. That emotion is like an alarm letting us know that something isn’t right, and in God’s grace, He designed our brains (specifically, our amygdala) to tell us that we need to fight the danger or flee from the danger.
Too many in the church have made others feel like less of a Christian because they’ve been afraid, but feeling fear isn’t the problem. Feeling fear is the indication that there’s a problem we must address.
Case in point: over the weekend, Israel was attacked, and their leader responded with the emphatic declaration that the nation of Israel was at war. Worldwide, people saw the news and felt fear. You might have been one of them.
“Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Is Jesus coming back? Are all the things I’ve always heard actually true? Wait!! I’m not ready to die!! I’m SCARED!!!”
Y’all, that fear isn’t from the devil, and it doesn’t need to be rebuked. It needs to be responded to because God has graciously allowed you to feel the desperation of not being ready so that you will use the time you have left to GET READY.
Consider the weight of that simple concept throughout scripture.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12, emphasis mine)
“Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.” (Colossians 4:5, emphasis mine)
“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk — not as unwise people but as wise — making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, emphasis mine)
Time is limited, and we would be wise to live accordingly. Many times, the fear we feel is actually a guardrail God can use to make sure we’re still on the right path.
Maybe we should stop rebuking the emotion of fear, and start responding to it?
To land this plane, let’s agree that feeling scared doesn’t mean we’re weak in our faith – it’s more like a warning from God to check our lives. Understanding fear and the “why” behind it helps us know when to pay attention to it.
When we feel scared, it can be God nudging us to think about our lives and make sure we’re on the right track. Again, the recent troubles in Israel show us that life can be uncertain, and feeling scared is like a reminder to use our time wisely and to make sure where ready for the day when that time is gone.
Instead of being afraid of fear, let’s listen to it, be smart about our choices, and allow it to remind us to make our lives count.
