All shook up?
If you are, compliment yourself for being in the majority, for by far the greater part of the world’s population consists of faint-hearted, timorous souls who scamper for any imagined safety at the sight of their own shadow! Even the briefest of introspection will uncover the fact that as individuals and as nations we have developed a giant “fear complex” such as never before graced a psychiatrist’s case history book.
We have fears of Russia, of possible unemployment, of nuclear fallout, fear of social disapproval, fear of not keeping up with the Joneses who are also in fear of not keeping up with us. We have fears of high places, of low places, of cops, of robbers, and now even a fear of fear.
We are quite obviously “all shook up” with fear.
To our great disgrace, we, the church, supposedly the children of the King, are so steeped in these popular fears that an observer could conclude that our faith exists only in fiction. We seem to have forgotten that all things are blessings to His church. We seem to have lost the vision of Christ reigning in omnipotence in glory and having all powers in heaven and earth under His control. And even more, we seem to disregard His promise to use both this omnipotent power and the entire universe to our advantage!
Imagine: all power… all creation… for us!
Let us suppose for a minute that your parents owned and controlled the largest corporation in the world, and let’s pretend that as a member of this most influential and powerful family, you are put to work in this organization with the promise that no matter what happened to others working around you, you never need worry about finding employment, because as a member of the family which owned the entire organization, your future was secure. If you were promised all these things by devoted parents, would you worry about finding enough to eat? I don’t think you would.
Isn’t it then to our eternal shame that in spite of the Almighty God’s promise that He will never leave us to our own resources; that He will direct every great and small thing to our benefit, isn’t it a shame and an insult that we continue in our fears?
It’s as if we thought God couldn’t live up to His promises. That His control of heaven and earth had slipped a little and now our future was in jeopardy.
By faith we not only can but should walk through this life like princes rather than timorous paupers, having no fears but the “fear” of God which is an expression of adoration and confidence.
Originally published in:
Vol. 18 No. 3 April 1958