How to Cure the Paralysis of Fear – by Desmond Ford
Feb 8, 2015 1743
The only reason we are here is to become like God and to minister like God. So service is ministry. We are here to convey God to the world and we must understand this privilege.
When God whispers to you and me, “Look, going you own way won’t get you anywhere, being selfish won’t get you anywhere, living the way worldlings live – self indulgence – won’t get you anywhere. Sin does not work. Sin is folly, sin is suicide.”
When God tells us to change our ways it does not add anything to him, but it adds a lot to me. Because sin is suicide, the way of God is the way of life, the tree of righteousness. The way of God is life to all who will take hold of her. So everything that God tells me is for my benefit. We must work for the master, and not for ourselves.
When we work for ourselves, it is because we fear.
Fear paralyzes. There is a type of fear that is right. We should fear sin. We should fear lest we fall short of our privileges and obligations. That fear is legitimate but there are many fears that are not legitimate. Most of our fears are not in that legitimate category.
Most of our fears are that we think that the world will do us in. Most of our fears are that something is going to spring on us like a lion in the dark taking its prey. Those fears are commonplace with all of humanity and they grow out of the fact that we are not sure that God is going to care for us. We are not certain that God cares about this problem that I have: financial, physical, family, reputation, employment.
These are the kinds of fears that cause us to work for ourselves and not for God. Because we doubt the goodness of God, we fear. The more we come to believe in the goodness of God, the less we will fear.
– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32 (From “Workers and Shirkers”)
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