Maybe you are afraid of deep water, or maybe the dark. Maybe you shudder at the thought of spiders, or clowns. But lets be honest, there are multiple types of fear. The fear of physical objects, such as spiders and clowns. The fear of your surroundings, like being in the dark, or being in really deep water.
But what about the fears that go deeper then that? Where do they come from? Where does the fear of loss come into play? The fear of rejection, and the fear of failure? What caused those fears to surface?
At some point in our life, someone with an opinion on the matter either told us about an experience that formed an opinion, or we had an experience that formed an opinion. Maybe you got bit by a spider, or your cousin told you about how scared she was at the circus because of the clowns.
But the deeper fears.. that's what is alarming. The fact that so many people can relate to each other through their deepest fears. We suffer a loss, or heartbreak. We fail something, or we get left behind. That's the fear that will define us. The fear of spiders is nothing compared to the fear of rejection, and the fear of deep water seems so acceptable next to the fear of failing anything.
I think that fear is something that is instilled in us from day one, and though we know that some fears are completely irrational (like the fear of monsters under the bed), we still believe with all our might that they are real.
2 Timothy 1:7 says "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."
We learn as we get older that the fear of monsters under the bed is phony, there is nothing to be afraid of. But we hold on to deeper fears. Our fears don't diminish, they just get older with us. Somehow, they take root. But as 2 Timothy says, God is not the creator of fear. He doesn't fill us with fear, and He doesn't make us timid. Once we grasp the ability to be able to trust God with our fears, I think is the time when we realize that God can release us of the fears.
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