Open Letter to Max Lucado #1.006a
Fearless
Chapter 1: Why are We Afraid?
Page 6 – Part 1
- “Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, and doubt, what would remain.”
We have a big red flag here. As we read Scripture, we do find admonitions to live lives that are not controlled by fear. Philippians 4:6, for example, says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (NASB) Clearly, God, through the working of His Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, has made it possible for us to live without fear being the hallmark of our Christian lives.
But Paul tells us in 1 Thess. 5:23 that we will not perfected during this lifetime, nor will we live without sinning: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (ESV) The word, “sanctify,” means to make holy or purify.
It speaks of a process, not some completed end during the course of our lives. Interestingly enough, Paul uses the word “blameless” instead of “sinless,” as though he’s remembering something very important that you, Max, have lost sight of:
We’re fallen creatures living in a fallen world! As believers, we are new creatures in Christ, to be sure, but the old Adam inside me continue to work against God’s plan for me, inciting old fears, causing me to choose sin at times instead of choosing to obey the One who saved me.
I know we are to strive to live faithfully, not fearfully, but I also realize that there is no place in my Christian life in which I will enjoy perfection – especially in this area regarding fear – until I am fully perfected. When will that be? When I enter into glory, of course, when I’ve finished this race.
That’s why I even have to take issue with the use of the word, “default,” in the quote above. Default implies some automatic action or response. So long as I have my sin nature and I live in this sin-cursed world, I must come to grips with the reality that my default (and that of every believer) is a desire to sin.
(For those reading, now would be a great time to spend five minutes studying the word, “sanctify” and its various forms. Do a word search and see how the term is used, and then draw your own conclusion.)
- “Envision a day, just one day, absent the dread of failure, rejection, and calamity. Can you imagine a life with no fear?”
This sounds great, but the apostle John wrote in Revelation 21:4 something that gives us further perspective on the reality of fear in the life of the Christian:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (KJV)
What do tears, sorrow, crying, and pain all have to do with one another? They all involve the very real presence of fear!
Why does John write of a day when these things shall be no more? Because the fallen world in which we live will have passed away. This is a future-day reality for every believer in which no imagining is needed. We simply take God at His Word that, as we enter into Glory, we will forever leave our old sin nature behind.
I can use my imagination to picture what life is like without fear, or I can get on my knees and pray as the disciples prayed, “And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’” (Luke 17:5, NKJV)
(There’s more to dig into on this page, but that’ll have to wait until Saturday. See you then!)
