Fearful Thinking Is Insane
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJ
It is difficult not to be afraid of something in this life. There are countless things that can cause us to fear. The news media focuses on things that cause us fear almost to the exclusion of all else. They use fear to grab our attention, making us watch for more details. Politicians play on our fears, everything from terrorists covertly crossing our borders smuggling death in various forms to hostile nations’ nuclear proliferation and global warming. Meteorologists are convinced (and busy convincing you and me) that every hurricane season will be the worst in memory.
Even advertisers use fear to sell us products. Watching just a few hours of TV will convince you that you are a candidate for everything from plaque build up in your blood vessels to restless leg syndrome. With this much to worry about it is clear why we need drugs to help us sleep at night, and purple pills to quell our acid reflux!
Seemingly everything in life conspires to cause fear to be awakened in us. These machinations cultivate those fears, leading to a frenzy of dread in our thoughts. You know what? It is a conspiracy! The enemy realizes that one of the great areas of vulnerability in most of us is fear.
Here is what he knows which we fail to understand. If we allow fear to dominate our thoughts and actions we will live lives of loss rather than gain, because fear retards or blocks intimacy with God. Lack of intimacy with God leads to lack of faith. Lack of faith results in fruitlessness in your life.
2 Timothy 1:7 says this about fear, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” According to this verse a sound mind is at the opposite end of the spectrum from fear. Fear and a sound mind will not co-exist. The mind that operates in fear is unsound and erratic. If we embrace the fears of this life, then the decisions we make are sure to be unstable. Let me overstate this just a little to make the point clear; fear leads to insane thinking! In hindsight, if you feel like you have made a lot of bad decisions recently it should probably be an indicator to you that you have allowed fear to dominate your thoughts.
J. Todd Hostetler