Facing Fears
Did you hear of the young woman who challenged herself to face 100 fears in 100 days? I was fascinated by this young woman’s story. As we mature, we do use the “tackle each fear” principle, don’t we? Even if it’s out of necessity, not really because we are so brave, we do it. One of my favorite quotes and I have no idea who said it is this, “Do the thing you fear to do, and the death of that fear is certain.” It’s so true. We do the thing we fear to do and eventually we overcome that fear. Things like jumping off a diving board or riding a bike or going to work for the first time. We do it–then we’re not afraid of it anymore. But here’s the thing about fears. New ones take the place of old and conquered ones.
We’ve conquered the bike and the diving board, but words like, “You’re not good enough or strong enough or worthy enough” seem to stop us in our tracks. Our toughest fears almost always revolve around our performance. In this new world of social media, fear of performance is more prevalent than fear of a boogieman.
One day I was discussing this with my teen granddaughters. I told them when I was growing up, I only had ten to twenty girls at school I might have compared myself to (even that is too much), but today they compare themselves to thousands. It’s crazy. And each comparison equals a fear that they won’t measure up to something someone else is doing.
No matter where our fear comes from, whether it’s a bump in the dark or new job performance looming over our head, II Timothy 1:7 is the answer. This verse tells us that God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and a sound mind.
God isn’t concerned about our performance; He’s concerned about our persistence in doing and being all that He wants us to be.
God isn’t concerned that you sing that TikTok song as good as the thousands of other who do it; He’s not concerned that your “pouty lips” meet the standards of the world; He doesn’t care if your clothes have the right label for “winners” of the world. Nope, God love YOU just like you are, and He gave you a brain and He asks you to use it to navigate the craziness of this world using His words and standards. No one else’s matters. It’s His standards that will set you free of fear.
Hugs, Chrys