Do not be afraid.Repeatedly throughout the Bible, messages delivered from God begin with those words: Do not be afraid. Look at Psalm 27:1-3; Matthew 14:27 and 17:7; and Acts 18;9.
When we are followers of Jesus Christ, there is nothing for us to fear. Sometimes the greatest way to show our love is to remind other believers of that truth. When someone we know is afraid of the future, afraid of the unknown, afraid of a medical diagnosis, afraid of the economic outlook, afraid of death, we can remind them that the God who loves us is the One who created the universe and has all of it in his hands. He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful.
This is not to be confused with all-causing. Terrible things happen that are outside his perfect will. Into this perfect universe, he introduced the element of choice. With that ability to choose came sin, rebellion against God's perfect will. As a result, bad things happen in this world and the consequences of those bad things grieve the heart of God as they do ours. But none of those consequences are beyond the power of God to save and redeem.
Paul said it best in his letter to the Romans:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
This is the bottom line: We have nothing to fear when we trust in Christ. We should take the time and make the effort to communicate to other Christians that fear--anything that suggests that something could bypass the power of God in and over our lives--is a lie.
Furthermore, we should recognize that trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword have no part in the love of Christ. That may sound like I am stating the obvious, but too often we allow people to believe they are facing these things at the hand of God. Paul is clearly stating that these things may be trying to separate us from the hand of God, but they cannot. No one, especially a fellow believer, should allow someone to believe that they are suffering these trials as a part of God's will.
We will face terrible things in this world. But the good news--the astounding news--is that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Nothing--absolutely nothing--can separate us from the love and ultimate will of God in our lives.
Do not be afraid.
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