A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.8). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Yes, we are.
Ed says, “I’m not talking about the vital organ in your chest but the heart that is the seat of yourself, your intellect, your morals, and your spirituality. And because of sin, we are heart patients, vulnerable to sicknesses like fear. You may not know it, you may not feel it, but at this very moment you could have a severe case of the fear virus attacking your heart. You could be in danger right now of missing out on God’s best for your life because fear is choking out your future. We all need to come to terms with the fact that we are heart patients and we have a fear virus that is taking life out of us. But there is a peace and joy God has for you—regardless of the circumstances in the world…”
He goes on, “Fear is often rooted in the inescapable fact that we are not as in control of our world as we think. Rarely does the entire world come to this conclusion at the same time. Yet in the first months of the new decade, our world was introduced to the COVID-19 virus. For generations to come, we will point to this virus as a reminder of how quickly we can lose control of our daily routines and lose confidence in what brings us security.
“When the fear virus takes hold of our hearts, it starts seeping into every area of our lives, our relationships, our society, our dreams and thoughts. Fear comes at us in unexpected ways and is always jolting, like when I got the call about my heart, or when COVID-19 swept through continents and crossed oceans, causing universal fear.
“Amidst the pandemic, everyone, to some degree, ceased living the life they knew and had to face the real fear of uncertainty. The media was on loop with information—some truth and some speculation—spiking fear into the population. Uncertainty breeds fear, and fear is a contagious virus. This pandemic revealed a deeper problem, a deeper issue: most of us have a natural bent toward fear, and we let that fear seep into our thoughts and every area of our lives until it controls us.
“The perpetuation of fear comes through various carriers. Our contact with social media, the news, and opinion boards have our fears on full display, and we are playing them on repeat. One of the things we learned during the pandemic is that we needed a trustworthy source of information. News broadcasts and social media posts were not all reliable. Emotions would rise and fall over information that may or may not be true. The fear virus contaminates and spreads to every area of our life if we are not careful. In order to fight the fear virus in our lives, we need context and we need truth. Whether it is our finances, job security, health, or the future, we must have the truth so that we give proper context to our fears.
Ed later says, “If negative fear is ‘False Evidence Appearing Real,’ what’s positive fear? A healthy fear of God means ‘Facing Everything with Assurance and Reverence.’ As we fight this fear virus, we can face every day and everything that comes across our path with reverence for God and assurance that He holds all things together. We are heart patients, and He is the healer. We have the fear virus, BUT the fear of Him is the vaccine; through His perfect love, we will have victory over our fear!
And that is what we need, isn’t it?
Yes, yes!
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