WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
Matthew 10.26-31

Jesus says, “Do not be afraid…” Wouldn’t that be nice?
It’s awful to live in fear. Some people live in fear all their lives.
Dr. James R. Driscoll tells about a middle-aged woman some years back, living in a small southern town who became desperately frightened. She was morbidly afraid burglars would break into her home. Maybe she watched too much television, or listened to too much bad news on the radio. Maybe there were rumors of break-ins around her town, or maybe a home on her street had been burglarized.
In any case, her fear mushroomed…to the point of paranoia. She pleaded with her husband until he gave in and, hoping to ease her mind, agreed to putting heavy bars on all the windows and doors of their house.
She was still frightened, so she talked her husband into adding additional strands of steel across the window bars…thus making it almost impossible for anyone to gain entry into the house. Only now, when she was virtually sealed off from the outside world, did she feel safer and more secure.
But, one afternoon, tragedy struck. As she was taking a nap, her house caught fire. When she awoke, she discovered she was trapped. Her husband, the fire department, the police, the neighbors, the rescue squad…everyone worked frantically to get into the house to get her out…but to no avail. They could not remove the heavy bars in time. Tragically, the woman lost her life.
What a terrible way to live—in constant fear. And yet many people in our world do.
Of course, some of our fears are our own creation. There are some very real fears in this world. Terrorism is a good example. However, there are many fears that exist only in our minds. And that’s sad. Fear can paralyze.
A backwoods farmer, sitting on the steps of a tumble-down shack, was approached by a stranger who stopped for a drink of water.
“How’s your wheat coming along?” asked the stranger.
“Didn’t plant none.”
“Really, I thought this was good wheat country.”
“Afraid it would rain.”
“Well, how is your corn crop?”
“Ain’t got none. Afraid of corn blight.”
The stranger, confused but persevering, continued, “Well, sir, how are your potatoes?”
“Didn’t plant no potatoes either…afraid of potato bugs.”
“For Pete’s sake, man,” the stranger asked. “What did you plant?”
“Nothing,” said the farmer. “I just played it safe.”
Fear can paralyze—whether that fear is based on reality or whether it exists only in our minds. Jesus said the ideal antidote for fear is faith in God. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
There are four areas of life in which we struggle to commit into God’s hands:
• The people we love. It’s extremely hard to admit our loved ones belong to God, and that we must surrender them to Him.
• The difficult situations we encounter. God is sovereign. God’s ways are better than our ways. God’s will is perfect. We want an explanation for our suffering, an answer for our questions. But God doesn’t have to respond to us. God expects us to trust Him even when we don’t understand His ways.
• Our basic human needs. Things like clothing, food, and shelter worry us. True freedom is found in believing our Heavenly Father will provide for our physical needs.
• Our self-worth. Many times, we find our worth in appearance, our status, our job performance, our athletic ability, our money and possessions. But our true worth comes from knowing we have become a child of God through Christ. This worth can ever be taken away. This is what Jesus is saying to us. Do not be afraid. God values the smallest sparrow. Surely, He greatly values His own!
We belong to Christ. And nothing can separate us from His love.
It’s awful to live in constant fear. But the solution to fear is found through belief in the faithful love of God for us.