On Fear

Dear Victorious,

I know the Bible says that perfect love drives out fear. And I've read you saying that Christians don't fear. So the thing is that I still have fear. There are things that I'm afraid of. Does that mean that I'm not a Christian or that I'm not spiritually mature? I feel like other Christians are better than me because I'm still stuck with this fear.

Randy E. - Auckland, NZ

Dear Randy,

No, that's not what it means. As long as you're human, fear will stalk you. It will try to convince you not to act. It will try to steal your serenity. The thing is that people who are firmly grounded in Christ know that fear has no power over them. But fear still tries. So we give our fears to Jesus in prayer. We remind ourselves of who He is and who we are in Him. And then we go forward in spite of our fears. A friend of mine says that we "do it afraid."

Spiritual maturity doesn't make us immune to human frailties. Rather it makes us able to overcome those frailties. You must always remember that your feelings are not truth. So when you feel afraid, you can still choose to move forward based on truth instead.