Are you Afraid of the Dark?

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7

When I was a kid I would stay up late to watch a show on Nickelodeon called “Are you Afraid of the Dark?” This show was about the Midnight Society, who would gather around the campfire in a secret location and tell scary stories. Most of these stories had a good ending, though as a kid they terrified me. Many nights I would go to sleep scared, afraid that the story would happen in my life.

Looking back now, I see that my reaction was completely irrational. As adults, we know that shows like this and scary stories are intentionally designed to play on our fears and draw us in with intrigue. We know that there is a difference between real life and movies. Yet, there are still sometimes where we are afraid.

I remember when I was living in Korea. I was there without my family and lived alone in a military dorm. One evening I wanted to watch a scary movie, so I closed all my curtains and shut off my light. The scenario of the movie was so realistic and I knew that something like that could happen in my life that I turned off the movie about 3o minutes in. I was afraid and I did not want to finish the movie.

There are times in our life when we are going to be afraid. Fear is going to creep in and we are going to be left to respond to that fear. Are we going to let that fear control us, like I did with that scary movie? Are we going to allow our fear to keep us from living the life that we have been given? As Christians, we have not been given a spirit of fear, but rather one of power, love, and self-control. This shows us that fear is the antithesis of power, love, and self-control. When we allow fear to control us we are not able to love as God intended. When fear takes control of our life we cannot use the power or self-control that God has given us.

The choice is ours. We’ve been given a spirit of power, love, and self-control, but are we going to choose to live by that spirit or by a spirit of fear. To overcome the spirit of fear we need to remind ourselves of the work that God has done for us. We need to fall back on the truth that Christ died for us and that the work is finished.

Pray:

·      That you would not be controlled by fear

·      That those around you would not allow fear to take over their lives

·      For opportunities to love others in their time of need

Further reading:

·      2 Timothy 1

Worship:

·      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0wpP5o7xpI