Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Fear is terribly debilitating. It can stun us into inaction - like a rabbit frozen in a car's headlights in the night.
Yesterday I watched a few episodes of Bear Grylls putting some famous people through their paces in difficult and dangerous terrain.
Each had to face their various fears along the way - mainly of heights - as they abseiled down sheer cliffs, traversed canyons on zip lines, or climbed 150 foot rope ladders.
In each case they had to face their fear and carry it with them as they descended down, or climbed up - trusting that Bear had them on another safety rope to catch them if they faltered.
Joyce Meyer famously wrote the book "Do it afraid" and many times in our lives we have that choice to make when following Jesus.
Like those famous people who had to grasp the metal and rely on Bear even though they were scared stiff, we too must face our own fears and trust Jesus has His safety rope to catch us if we fall.
At the end of those episodes each star is elated after achieving something they thought was impossible for them.
Jesus wants to encourage us along our way to face and overcome our fears.
Just like David Williams climbing that rope ladder up onto a viaduct 150 foot above a reservoir - trembling with every step, summoning every iota of his evaporating strength. He could hear the voice of Bear encouraging and urging him ever upward, - so may we hear the Voice of Jesus, cheering us on in our lives.
Let's face our fears and let Jesus' loving presence chase them away.
Perfect love casts out fear!
Comments