Have you ever been a slave to fear? I have. Ironically, I just wrote a children’s book about trusting Jesus in the midst of this big, scary world. As my husband and I were driving down the road this weekend, the question came to my mind: Do I believe what I wrote? Do I trust Jesus in this world? Let me tell you a bit about my journey.
In 2019, a physical illness surfaced in my body that I wasn’t prepared for. It struck me – literally – when I suddenly passed out at the dinner table at a work conference. I woke up surrounded by medical professionals who assured me it was, “just a vagal episode.” Maybe so, but to me, it became a gateway to an ongoing “episode” of unsuccessfully fighting back the temptation to panic and fear.
After that moment, I struggled to want to leave my house for fear of when the next “episode” might hit. I was totally enslaved to fear. It controlled my life, though I didn’t feel like life was really something I had anymore.
Can you relate? Maybe you’re not struggling with physical illness. Maybe you find yourself enslaved to fear due to financial difficulty. Or maybe you’re fearful of the chaos swirling around you in this upside-down world. Maybe broken relationships, a sudden death in the family, or an instance of abuse has left you chained. If you’re fighting fear, you’re not alone.
I have to be honest. For the longest time, I believed that being a Christian somehow purchased me a free pass to skip the twists and drops on this roller coaster ride called life. I understood the reality of the goodness of God. I knew God was my loving Father, and reasoned that He would never not protect me, His daughter. I mean, Jesus died for me; he loves me with an everlasting love. So surely life would be smooth sailing with Jesus, right? Well… no. Somehow, I had conveniently overlooked all the passages about the reality of suffering in this world, and had only embraced the warm fuzzy ones where everything will be alright; where all the promises are, “yes and amen,” and you skip the valleys for the mountains. Scripture paints a different picture, and it’s vital for us as followers of Jesus to grapple with the reality of life in a fallen world.
If you’ve experienced it, you know that fear is a cruel slave master. It robs us of joy and chokes the goodness out of life. But it’s a slave master that the Lord Jesus died to defeat, and Christ can set us free. So, as Christians, how do we fight against fear? Is it possible to overcome?The Bible gives us the road map.
“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
-John 16:33
John 16:33 says, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (ESV). No surprise there! Even the Apostle Paul wasn’t exempt. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, Paul tells us, “…For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death,” (ESV).
Tribulation. Despair. Burdened beyond his ability. Sound familiar? Life is hard, and can be overwhelming. But listen to the latter portions of those passages: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33, ESV). The end of 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 reads: “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead,” (ESV).
Scriptures provides us with the diagnosis, but at the end of those passages it also provides us with the cure! When life is hard and fear tightens its grip, I can take heart and be strengthened because Jesus overcame it all! When the things that I face feel like they’ll destroy me, I can place my hope is in God. I can rely on Him. I can look to the cross and rejoice in the resurrection, knowing that when Jesus died and rose again, He defeated death, hell, and the grave. He set the captives free, and that includes the one captive to fear. I can cry out to God who hears me and delivers me. As it states in 1 John, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18, ESV). And Jesus’ love is perfect.
I will most assuredly continue to face hard and scary things in this life. We all will. But God is our strength, and our lives are in His hands. We no longer have to be chained to fear because the Lord Jesus is safe. We can rest knowing that no matter what comes our way, Jesus already overcame it.
So this weekend, driving down the road, I determined to trust in the Lord. It’s true that in the back of my mind anxiety threatened to creep in, and fear started to rear its ugly head. But as we faced the twists and drops winding through the Blue Ridge mountains, I answered my question. Do I believe what I wrote in that children’s book about trusting Jesus in this big, scary world? Absolutely. Jesus is trustworthy, and fear loses its power when I look to the One who died and rose again to defeat it.