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“Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 9). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Fear can be a horrible thing if carried too far, can’t it?  Have you ever been controlled by fear?  Are you now controlled by fear?

Max says, “Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia. It dulls our miracle memory. It makes us forget what Jesus has done and how good God is.”

Is that where you are right now?

He goes on, “When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. When safety becomes our god, we worship the risk-free life. Can the safety lover do anything great? Can the risk-averse accomplish noble deeds? For God? For others? No. The fear-filled cannot love deeply. Love is risky. They cannot give to the poor. Benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? The worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear.”

He then says, “His most common command emerges from the ‘fear not’ genre. The Gospels list some 125 Christ-issued imperatives. Of these, 21 urge us to ‘not be afraid’ or ‘not fear’ or ‘have courage’ or ‘take heart’ or ‘be of good cheer.’ The second most common command, to love God and neighbor, appears on only eight occasions. If quantity is any indicator, Jesus takes our fears seriously. The one statement he made more than any other was this: don’t be afraid.”


So is fear corroding your confidence of God’s goodness in your life?
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