There have been days when I didn’t want to get out of bed and thought I could just stay there and avoid it all. I did not want to confront the difficult situations in my life. I was living in fear.
But, I realized that if I stayed in bed nothing would really change. The circumstances in my life would still be there, haunting me. The only thing I could change was how I thought about it. That is when I must turn to the Scriptures to make sure I am thinking correctly by remembering what God has said.
Lead to Fear
The Bible tells us that apart from God, our lives are filled with fear. We are enslaved to the world around us which controls our lives, and that leads to fear. The good news is that we do not have to live that way!
Reading in Romans, we find this passage in chapter 8 that speaks about not living in fear. Speaking to Christians, Paul says in verses 15-17,
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Set on the Flesh
In chapter 8, Paul has been explaining that the mind set on the flesh is death, and is hostile toward God. When the Bible talks about the ‘mind set on the flesh’, we should understand that to mean that a person is thinking like a natural man separated from God. The normal thinking of those in the world is to not submit to God. The Bible describes a person like that as hostile toward God.
Living apart from God subjects people to fear because when we are not right with God, we cannot please Him, and are slaves to that fear. People have various ways of trying to deal with that fear. But deep inside, they cannot escape the feeling of dread caused by fear.
Set on the Spirit
The Biblical answer is to set one’s mind on the Spirit. Earlier in Romans 8:6, Paul says,
“the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
The problem is that we cannot do this by ourselves. We must have God’s help.
God has given His Law as revealed in the Bible. The natural man however, is not able to live by that Law, and is therefore disobedient to God. The Bible calls this disobedience, sin.
What the natural man could not do, God did by sending His Son, Jesus, as an offering for sin. Jesus fulfilled the Law and by His substitutionary death, the requirement of the Law was fulfilled in us. Through Jesus, the natural man can be reconciled to God.
Spirit of Life
As Christians, we have received the Spirit that leads to life, and no longer live in fear. Paul is speaking in this passage in Romans of true fear, which is not being reconciled with God!
However, even as Christians, we can lapse in our thinking and put ourselves under fear again. This is a silly thing to do.
Conclusion
When I am thinking correctly, I realize that since I have escaped from TRUE fear,1 I do not need to be subject to lesser fears either. Through reading the truth from the Bible, and applying it in my life, I can learn to deal with these lesser fears. Instead of submitting to fear, I can focus on the hope I have in Christ.
I write about fear, and what to do about it, in an earlier article, The Fear of Death.
1 The TRUE fear I am speaking of is the fear of having to face a righteous God in judgment. Through Jesus, we can escape judgment.