Fear is a crippling thing and because of it, many Christians are simply unable to do what God wants them to do. But this should not be so. As the people saved and redeemed by our almighty and loving God, we should be the most fearless, bold and courageous people standing up for Christ!
Here are three reasons we shouldn't fear anything except the Lord:
1) Fearing other things makes us not fear God
Fearing other things makes us lose sight of what really matters. Irrational fears, be it fear of ridicule or rejection, or even more irrational fears like fear of ghosts and boogeymen divert our attention from what really matters: fearing the Lord our God.
The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (see Proverbs 9:10). If we fear other things, we become foolish, and tend to do things that are not pleasing to the Lord (see Prov. 1:7, 29). As a Christian, this should not be so! Our fear should be on the Lord alone!
2) It's a command from Jesus
Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This is a clear command.
When we read the Bible, we find that God wants us not to fear anything, except for Him. The Bible gives us great examples of people who were scared, but who were told by God not to fear. Gideon faced thousands of Midianites. Joshua faced a huge challenge before entering the promised land. David faced bears, lions, Goliath, and a lot more. Jesus' disciples faced intense persecution. And of course Jesus Himself went through a terrible trial and horrible torture before being executed. All of them did not fear anything except God, and thus were able to face all of it.
3) Only God deserves our fear
Fear is something that we give to someone or something we consider great, dreadful, or absolutely powerful. Following this logic, we can say that fear is some form of worship. But only God deserves our worship! We have to understand that fearing Him and Him alone is an act of worship.
There's an important principle that we have to understand. If we fear other things instead of God, we actually willingly surrender ourselves to that thing and we're saying it's more powerful than God, which is a lie. Fearing God alone means surrendering to Him alone.
Paul said in Romans 6:16, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" We should know to whom we surrender.
Fearing God is not the same as being "scared" of Him irrationally. Instead, it means honouring Him with much respect and trembling. He is a holy, just and righteous God that utterly hates sin. But at the same time, He is the ultimately loving God who reached out to us in our sinfulness. Let us learn to fear the Lord and honour Him always (see Prov. 8:13).
