FEAR


'His eye is on the sparrow and I know he's watching over me – a quote inspired by Matthew 10:29,  is one of the most reassuring quotes that has helped me many a times to remember that I’m not alone.

Research shows that as babies all of us are born with only two kinds of fears: fear of falling and fear of noise. These are believed to be incorporated into our DNA as preventive mechanism to keep us from potential danger. Research also shows that on an average every adult lives with at least 7000 or more kinds of phobias and fears. Along the way we have caught up with 6998 phobias and fears that plague us as we struggle to get along with our daily lives. Right from fear of closed places to fear of dying, we’ve become prisoners of our fears.

I believe that when God created us, He intended for us to live a life free of worry. The walk back to the Garden of Eden would require us to let go of these fears one by one. ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love – I John4:18’. We have this perfect love poured on us through the cross. If we abide in this love, there can be nothing that would harm us. For me this has been so hard to practice because I’m riddled with a host of fears. I fear for the safety of my children, I fear for my aging parents, I fear about accidents, I fear that I might fail at work, so on and so forth. Can that be unfair? Not at all. But I also realise that all my worrying and fearing can’t move nor change anything.

We’re living in such difficult and uncertain times; but an understanding of this love that God has for us will keep us and our hearts at rest. He says, ‘I have called you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness’. And He is not man to lie! This love that chose to die for us that we might live, can keep our foot from slipping. We only need to believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Neither life, neither death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans8:38).

So why fear?