The Fear in Faith

There is an overwhelming fear at times that comes with completely trusting in something other than yourself and other than what you can control.

Trust is taking down the safety net and taking the leap of faith.

Fear is looking down before you jump and thinking of the 101 possible outcomes that your mind can’t help but explore and become consumed by.

It’s only human nature to want to see and explore all the options, all the possibilities, all the consequences. God created us to be individuals, people who can think for themselves, feel unique emotions, and make choices all on our own. He understand what is at stake when he asks us to trust in Him, He understands how our minds work, He understands the difficulty in handing over control. He gives us free will so that we understand the importance of our choices, so we can feel what it means to truly be free. I think deep down we all know the choices that lay in front of us and whether we will admit it or not—we know the consequences of those choices. It is our own selfishness, our own desires, and our own need for control that keeps us from taking the leap and forces us to stand on the edge always looking down and wondering-- will this ever work? We are the ones that keep ourselves from the freedom that God so freely offers.

Freedom always comes with a price. Our Country was founded and built by generations who fought to make it what it is today; individuals who understood what it meant to set aside selfishness for the greater good of freedom. Freedom does not come easily, it is a choice. It takes work to build and it takes even more work to sustain. Faith is freedom. God just handed us our freedom—He has it in His hand, holding it out to you, and asking you to take the leap. It is not through our own work or through anything we have done that he offers it to us. Freedom is our Gift from God. Our gift to God is trusting Him in our freedom, it is in giving him control when it is difficult, and it is in keeping our freedom maintained through living out our faith daily. Our worship is in trusting Him when everything in us tells us to step back, it is in taking that leap without looking down, it is in fighting for freedom when the chains of doubt threaten to hold us down.

God says Fear Not but He also knows that we will fear. He does not say that there won’t be fear, He just tells us to not look down—to keep our eyes focused on Him, to take the leap without the chains holding us back, and to live out our faith with freedom.

There is fear in faith but God says…Fear Not.