Why Christianity Has a Fear Problem
Or, Don’t be afraid? Really?
Christians are scared, and the impact of fear touches every area of their lives from voting to sleep to job security.
It’s simultaneously one of Christianity’s great comforts and most misunderstood commands.
Do not be afraid.
Whether instructing the disciples as they launched into a dangerous national campaign to announce the rejection of the current world system or comforting said disciples after they abandoned him to be crucified, Jesus repeated the words, do not be afraid, quite a few times.
On the eve of his death, he warmly instructed, let not your hearts be troubled.
In John’s allegory, Jesus places his hand on John’s shoulder, easing his worry about present conditions and repeats the refrain.
Although the faux-fact passes through many a chain mail, there aren’t 365 “do not be afraid” scriptures; one for each day of the year, but there are a lot. Plenty of teachers point out the imperative nature of the call to fearlessness. We are commanded to not be afraid! Others point to the meditative aspect of the statement. Consider the lillies, how they toil not. Notice the birds. Are they not fed? Isn’t it just irrational to be afraid when God is on your side? Still more exalt the nearness of God in our trouble. He, after all, is a present help. His eye is on the sparrow and such.
But Christians can end up as deeply fearful as anyone else, regardless of all these promises to be care free and confident that God is for us. Why?
Possibly because the command to not be afraid is actually a call to realign, not remove, our concern. For example, were I to be concerned about my work load high up in my office, and suddenly the fire alarm went off, I could say, do not be concerned about that email. Be concerned about the fire.
And also, if I were watching baseball, concerned about the bottom of the ninth, and my son called me to say, I just got accepted to the college I hoped for, my concern would shift. And rightly so. A grander concern overshadows the lesser.
For this reason, Jesus tells the crowds, why are you worried about men who threaten your body and livelihood? Shouldn’t you be more concerned about lasting realities? What happens when your life is called to account?
It shifts the concern, or fear. Now Jesus doesn’t call anyone to be afraid of God, but to be concerned with God’s final judgment more than man’s. To illustrate, my sons, who are young and have little say so over each other, will often come to me in panic over their brother’s injustice. “He took the Xbox! It was my turn! He said I can’t go on it.”
The current reality was that one had stolen a turn. I didn’t change that. It happened. But I calm them and say, “Hey. Don’t worry about what he says. Who makes the final decision?” It’s dad who decides if the boy gets a turn. If he just remembered that I’m the key, he wouldn’t be concerned with his brother’s declaration.
The same goes for this Christian promise. Christians forget that their hope lies ultimately in life; post resurrection life. The knowledge that God is just and will set all things to rights one day. But they take the fear not commands and suppose them to mean that God will resolve or remove the current impediment.What happens when you turn God’s promise of protection into a promise to turn an election in your favor? You focus on the election, not God’s ultimate justice and you worry. What happens when you focus on God’s promise of security as a promise that you won’t lose your job? Or if you do that he’ll get you another? You focus on the problem at hand and worry.
What Jesus intended was for you to continually contemplate the eventual. There is always a next. Whereas a present minded person views today with finality and worry, a future minded person sees beyond the unknown into the known with comfort. If we rely on the promise that God, at the final day will not fail to give life to all that are judged as obedient to the law of love, we remove ourselves from the concern of the potential middle struggles.
Do not be afraid, doesn’t get us out of legal trouble, social struggles, financial insecurity, and it was never supposed to. Do not be afraid means that in the face of all the potentials, there is always the hope that remains.
The more we except the reality of struggle and suffering, the less we try to use God out of sorts as a make shift night light against the worries of the dark.
Christianity means to teach the mind, not that there is little to fear here, but that were the worst possible fear to come true, it does not have the power to control our final status. The cross is the symbol of this. Worst case scenario is death. Christian death is met with resurrection. This vindication teaches us to be concerned only with love and justice and humility and peace.
Only fear that you are missing these and practice the mindfulness of disengaging from the concerns of temporary things.
