Nothing to Fear?

Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

Jeremiah 36:23-24

Franklin Roosevelt was quite wrong when he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” To be perfectly candid that statement would be an appropriate declaration from an inmate in an insane asylum. Analyze it for a moment. If you have nothing to fear but fear then why should you fear nothing? During World War II we had plenty to fear. The world itself was being threatened by despots who wanted to bring to an end our way of life and remove freedom from the world. So if you didn’t fear them, then why did we fight them?

Today we again proclaim proudly that the world has nothing to fear as long as we come together and tackle the great problems of health care and climate change! We are taking the Word of God and fearlessly cutting it up and throwing it in the firepot.

We not only disregard the Word of God but we actively ban it from every public display.

Somehow we have come to believe that showing no fear of anything is an admirable characteristic. It is not. Fear is a good thing when the thing you fear should be, by all rights feared. Fearing your own shadow is foolish, but fearing a shadowy form that lurks waiting to do you harm is wise! It is better to fear everything than to fear nothing! When you fear nothing, then you don’t fear God and that is an eternally fatal mistake.

So when you hear a Word from God that convicts you of your sin let the fear of God prompt you to repent. Then let the Word of God burn brightly in your heart not in the firepot!