Don't be afraid!

     I was reading in "Fearless", a book by Max Lucado, this morning and a sentence jumped out at me and I felt I needed to share it here. "When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god."
     We are living in a time that the media's main news items always try to stir fear in our hearts. If they don't cause enough fear by informing us of the debt of our nation and the approaching financial collapse, then they bring in stories of foreign wars. Yes, all of these things are serious, but news stories these days don't attempt to just inform us, they attempt to slant our views or to stir up sympathies or "fears". (In high school I took a journalism course and truly felt the reporters job was to inform, not to create biases and create fear in people, but that's material for a different blog entry.)
     We are very willing subjects for this fear mentality, we seem to encourage fear in our own lives as well. If we can't be fearful enough in our own lives we amplify things by spending too much, we max out our credit cards, borrow more money and then go out to dinner to complain to each other of our "poverty state" (but we deserve it, right?) pushing us towards our own financial ruin. Next we wait until the last possible minute to leave to arrive at our destinations, causing us to drive too fast, having near wrecks and swearing at others that get in our way that may cause us to be late! Like it's their fault, nevermind that we could of left 10 or 15 minutes earlier but it definitely raises our adrenaline levels.
     So with the questions of will we have enough money?, will we be late for work?, will we get in trouble for our tardiness? will we get cancer from those cigarettes? will we destroy our health from eating too much sugar? fats? carbs? caffeine? non-organic? on and on the fear manufacturers go! And don't forget the terrorists, the illegal aliens, the national debt, the elections(we HAVE to get the right man in office! can't God use the wrong man?), where to park the money we don't have so it's safe from the falling stock market effects, rising crime, you name your fear. Maybe it's that your golf game will never be as good as it was 20 years ago?
     Then if our real lives aren't enough to produce your fear of choice, we have entertainment! If you go to a movie theater to try to find some entertainment, the current movie posters are all horrific stories of murder, savageness and betrayal. The few shows of uplifting moral tales are good money makers but for some reason the Hollywood crowd seems to prefer to produce stories that cater to the god of fear that we've crowned in our lives.
     I'm not saying that we shouldn't be informed of dangerous weather heading our way and take steps to protect our families or the things that God has blessed us with and I'm not saying that we shouldn't use wisdom in our food selections and exercise programs and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned with who wins the next election for president of our nation. It is our duty to be informed, to campaign for our chosen candidate, if need be and to go place our votes.  I'm saying that as Jesus was able to calm the storm in Matthew 8:23-28 He is able to work with whoever is in office. He is able to calm ANY storm be it weather or political. In being informed and taking wise steps in our lives we should not let fear take root or be crowned as king in our lives. I for one don't want to be called a woman of "little faith"! I will work to protect my heart from fear and root out any that are harbored in my heart or spirit.

Matthew 8:23-27 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He *said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

     In his book Max Lucado shares that Jesus' most common command emerges from the "fear not" genre. The Gospels list some 125 Christ-issued imperatives. Of these 21 urge us to "not be afraid" or "not fear" or "have courage" or "take heart" or "be of good cheer". The second most common command, to love God and neighbor, appears on only eight occasions..... The one statement he made more than any other was this: don't be afraid."