Do Christians Fear?

Through the Bible, God warns us to beware of evil: “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) We have to be on the lookout for all kinds of evil. We don’t want to be taken by surprise; we want to “watch and pray”. However, we know that we don’t have to fear, because God also tells us in Isaiah 41:10, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.” We can rely on our loving Father to protect us when evil and danger appear! If someone or something is attacking us, we know we’re “in the right”, and can easily remember to pray against that kind of evil. But what about the evil within – when we give in to the temptation to sin? We Christians are still human, and through that humanity, we have inherited a sinful nature. And there’s nothing we ourselves can do to keep from having to pay the penalty for sin – death: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) As sinners, we must rely on God’s grace for forgiveness and salvation. We can depend ONLY on our Lord to save us. Jesus took all our sin onto Himself and paid the price – death and separation from the Father!

We Don’t Have to Be Afraid!

But we know that the grave COULD NOT hold our Lord! Because Jesus is part of God, the power of God worked a miracle so strong, that Christ triumphed over death, emerging from His tomb after the three days.

Do you love your life so passionately that you’d hang on to it, no matter what? As Christians, we are instructed to follow Christ’s example: to be willing to let go of, or even sacrifice, our earthly lives, because we know that the eternal life that comes after is even better.

The Apostle Paul gave us an example of a good attitude about this: “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11)

Paul’s words reinforce for us that we have nothing to fear – nothing bad on earth, even death, can compare with God’s glory in eternal life. The life of Jesus calls us to be His passionate followers, loving and trusting Him, clinging to Him more than our earthly lives.

Instead, We Can Believe

We trust Jesus to take the guilt of our sin away by the sacrifice of His death. Therefore, we can trust His promise to fulfill God’s purpose after our earthly deaths. Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die.” John 11:25-26

What a miracle; what a promise!

One of the first steps of becoming a Christian is to believe that Jesus is part (the Son) of God, and that the miracles of His life, death, and resurrection can teach us to live righteous lives, guarantee the forgiveness of our sins, and promise us the life everlasting at His side, in Heaven. He told us that when we believe in Him and strive to live our lives righteously, as He did, He will conquer death in us.

Jesus gave us the ultimate examples of faith; prayer; loving; cooperating, or working together, with friends; and more. His was a sinless existence. And although we still might sin sometimes because of our humanity, we can try to live lives like Jesus’s, following God’s will even to death, without needing to fear it.