ChoicesExemplo

Will you choose faith?

Earlier we talked about two kinds of fear, one driving us to God, another holding us back. Phobia fears immobilize and paralyze us. These fears turn into worry, anxiety, and stress; overtaking our minds. We worry until we get the phone call that our son arrived safely to his destination. We are afraid to open that bill. We are fearful of the doctor’s news. We are locked in terror when the phone rings in the middle of the night. I’ve received more than one call from someone reporting one of our teens had been in a car accident. Thankfully, none were badly injured, but the fears immediately raged in my heart and mind. How would I survive a loss like that?

There is only one remedy for the crippling affects of fear. Faith. Now, that is simple sounding. Just have faith. But what does that even mean?

In our English language, faith is both a noun and a verb. The noun faith is what we believe to be true. It’s not a difficult thing to believe in the existence of God or that His words are true for others. But when we are faced with deep fear and anxiety, or disappointment in our lives, we have a hard time believing those words are true for us. Fears consume our thoughts and we are left drifting, unstable, and tossed about.That’s when the verb matters. Faith without action is dead. Active faith is alive. It is lived out in our actions.

Fear and faith cannot coexist. Faith is sure and certain. Faith believes that God knows all things, sees all things, and is always working for our good, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Fear is about feelings. Faith is about belief. Fear stops us while faith propels us. The hard reality is that fear is unbelief.

When we choose faith, believing God and resting in His words, we are choosing Him and His ways over anything our mind wants us to think. He teaches us to look with spiritual eyes, not at what our life looks like in the moment or what our feelings are saying. Even when all else seems to be falling apart, He still says to look to Him, to trust Him, to believe Him. Satan dances around all the what-ifs, should-haves and if-onlys, waiting for us to join him in the chaos and turmoil of our own understanding. Which will we choose? Fear or faith?

Choose faith. It is the only antidote to fear.