Preface: This was written for my Nouthetic Counseling class when I was a student of Bible & Ministry and submitted July 20, 2000.
Are you a slave…To Fear?
“Classical conditioning contributes to the acquisition of emotional responses, such as fear” which becomes an unconditioned response over time. This reference leads all to believe that we cannot escape fear. Possibly leading one to believe that fear cannot be escaped in the ways it should be, and embraced in reference to God as in Psalms 19:9, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.” So, shall we choose to be a slave to fear? Fear of God, I would say so. For “the fear of God is the one fear that removes all others” and we should “serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” (Psalms 2:11) To have fear is not wrong, as fear is an emotion and emotions are from God. Free Will is a determining factor also as to how much fear of the wrong kind rules your life. It is what keeps us safe next to a cliff by precautionary measures and it “is right and holy so long as it rests upon and grows out of a faith and trust” in God.
I think a major part of fear is in relation to the fear of consequences. The guilty conscience that is present long after that bad deed had occurred. The fear can be from what parents, friends, the boss, children, and God might think, do or say. For example, if a husband were to cheat on his wife, he would fear his wife’s reaction if she ever found out. It is not unrealistic or unsubstantiated to have fear, but trusting and loving in the name of the LORD can overcome it, and you can have that clear conscience. Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of our faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Without this cleansing of the guilt, “the wicked flee when no man pursueth.”(Prov. 28:1) and “some shall depart from the faith,..Speaking in lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”(1Tim. 4:1-2) A key to avoiding a guilty conscience is to avoid the sin that will create it.
Also, along the same lines of a guilty conscience, fear can be directly related to, and resulting in punishment. The punishment can also be a result of the sin that originally gave that guilty conscience. What is the greatest punishment in life? Death. There are many ways on how this word can relate to the life of a believer. Once again, there is death in Christ, without fear; and there is life in Christ, without fear. “For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; and whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the LORD’s.”(Rom 14:8) So, what punishment is there to fear? To be fearful of your physical death is useless as Jesus says in Luke 12:22, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.” Also, “we are buried with him [Christ] by baptism into death…for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”(Rom 6:4-5) We are dead to our body already upon our acceptance of Him as out LORD, so why should we fear death? No reason to, as you will not lose what matters most, Christ’s indwelt Spirit.
Now seeing that there is no reason for an immense amount of fear, what does one do should you still fall into that trap? Everything is through love. “Christians, out of love for God and in trusting obedience to His Word can over come problems by prayer and repentance..” In trusting and obeying the word, love for God in faith answers all “If you love me, keep my commandments” (i.e., John 14:15) verses very easily. “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. ..This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:9-12) How does loving and obeying commandments relate to fear? Well, depending on what the fear is of, your love for the person dealing with it will allow you to discern what to do through your prayer for guidance through the Holy Spirit and studying of the word. There are no easy answers as to what to physically do, each person’s needs and reactions are different, but it is all possible in His love.
There is a balance to everything in life, including fear. Just like the food chain, or that saying at work “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.” Nothing wrong with Chiefs or Indians, but there can be too much of one. However, weaknesses still exist right along with sin and a whole barrel of secular battles to be fought by the Spirit-filled believer with the armor of God. Along with the armor we must remember that “[his] grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Cor12:9) and “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.”(1John4:18)
1 - Weiten/Lloyd, Psychology Applied to Modern Life-Adjustment in the 90’s p.47
2 - All Bible verse references from: The Scofield Study Bible Most current Copyright 1945 by Oxford University Press, Inc. previously published and The Scofield Reference Bible.
3 - The “fear of the LORD,” a phrase of the O.T., meaning reverential trust with hatred of evil (see footnote 2)
4 - Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual p.414
5 - Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual p.415
6 - Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual p.424
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2000 Copyright Shannon Yáñez
