Editor’s note: This article was submitted for publication Fall 2018. This is a late upload.
By: Rev. David Wilson Rogers
We live in very frightening times. Crime, global instability, immigrant migrations, ecological catastrophe, political division, and economic uncertainty dominate the news. Amid the frightening drama of the modern world, calls for tightening national security and increasing security across all segments of society give the illusion of keeping America safe from the dangers of the world around us. Unfortunately, such calls for security are actually contributing to a destructive insecurity!
Fear can be a powerful and useful reality. Fear can prevent people from knowingly stepping into dangerous situations, advise people against devastating choices, and harness the defensive energy necessary to protect us against threat. Without exception, there are times when the Divine gift of fear is truly a lifesaving blessing from our Creator.
However, when fear takes over and becomes a dominant factor in the national consciousness or is a driving force behind cultural considerations, the gift that God intended humanity to use for good quickly becomes a tool of evil and a means of devastating destruction.
1 Thessalonians 5:24, John 14:1, Isaiah 35:4, John 14:27, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 118:6, and 1 John 14:18 are just a few of the many Bible verses that remind us that people of faith need never live in fear or act out of fear. Scripture likens it to the chains of slavery as mentioned in Romans 8:15 that God did not give us a spirit of slavery which would call us into life lived in fear.
The chains of fear are truly a heavy, and expensive, burden to carry. In our modern culture of fear, the U.S. Government spends more money on reaction to fear than addressing the more pressing needs of human community. Unfortunately, this often translates into financing fear rather than serving Christ or living up to Christian principles and authentic human morality. It even contradicts core values that make up foundational American principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and upholding a government by the people, of the people, and for the people.
Fear causes us to spend more money on defense than medicine. In some states, more taxpayer money is spent in maintaining prisons than higher education. Human need—such as migrants displaced by three decades of American involvement in Central America—is met with fear and the frightening escalation of military presence rather than the Christian values of hospitality and grace. Fear motivates people to clamor for walls rather than seek justice, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or care for the orphan and widow. Fear—when left unchecked or when glamorized for political aims—will always divert resources and energy away from where God would truly have it allocated.
Christianity is fundamentally a faith rooted in peace, justice, and love—not fear! Therefore, if Christians would reject the culture of fear and embrace the foundational principles at the core of our Biblical faith, the Church can genuinely make a difference for Christ in this world. This is the vision of Jesus Christ for those who would presume to follow in his name and, for the sake of the faith Christians hold so dear, not to mention the future of this Nation we love so dearly, it is time the Church rebuked the culture of fear and lived the Spirit-filled life made possible in Jesus Christ!
