If you’re going to make a fresh start with faith in
your life, you must face your fears. Fear has an
incredible ability to paralyze our potential, to
keep us from launching out, to keep us from
having faith in our lives.
Giving into our fear makes us skeptical. We
become afraid of trying anything new when we’re
afraid.
Remember the story of Bartimaeus in Mark 10
in the Bible? He faced a fear that most of us
face: the fear of rejection and disapproval.
He was blind and in need of healing. Jesus was
walking by, but Bartimaeus knew that to shout
out at Jesus in that crowd wasn’t the culturally
acceptable thing to do. He knew that people
would look down on him for it, but he was
desperate.
And he knew that Jesus Christ was the only one
that could help him.
Bartimaeus shouted. And sure enough, people in
the crowd criticized him for it. When he shouted
out to Jesus, the Bible says in Mark 10:48,
“Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he
shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on
me!’” (NET).
When he shouted out, everyone around said
things to him like, Don’t do that. Be quiet. Quiet
down. Don’t make a scene. Surely Jesus Christ
isn’t interested in you. He’s got more important
things to do.
The Devil whispers things like that to a lot of us.
And those kinds of thoughts often keep us from
having faith. When you see before you
the opportunity to change, to be healed, to take
another step forward in your spiritual journey, all
kinds of shouts from inside and outside of you
tell you not to rock the boat.
But here’s an important question: Whose
disapproval do you fear the most? Whoever that is,
that person is your god. That person can keep
you from having faith or invite you to have faith.
Peer pressure isn’t just for kids.
It’s possible that as you read this, God is asking
you to do something greater than you’ve ever
done before. He’s asking you to depend on him
in a way you never have before. Of course it’s a
little scary.
Here’s my encouragement: Tame your fear and
move out in faith!
Sorce here
Aphorism CITY 