God Gives us a Spirit that isn’t Fear
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 ESV
Many times throughout the day our fears are addressed in the completely wrong way. I never knew plaque was a thing that could hurt me until I was offered mouthwash to fight it. I never knew there were stains that couldn’t come out of my carpet until I was offered some stain removal soap stuff made to clean it. Like a kid being told at bedtime “Don’t worry, there isn’t a monster under your bed.” We are told that there are all kinds of horrible things going on in the world and that the world is working on fixing it.
That’s not the way God handles our fears.
When the Holy Spirit is in you as a deposit and guarantee of your faith and salvation in Christ, you get a blank check against fear. The Apostle Paul says elsewhere that life nor death, nor angels nor demons can separate us from the love of God in Jesus. (Romans 8:31–39) We are inseparable from God in Christ. That guarantee is a promise that can carry us through everything we can think of and all of the things that we can’t imagine that might happen to us next.
Whenever someone is saved from something they are saved from one thing and to something else. Don’t read this verse as a command or some law you have to obey. It’s a statement of the truth that you only have to watch and observe. When you believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross and took away your punishment, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. That spirit is filled with power, love, and self-control and will begin working out God’s characteristics in you. The spirit in you isn’t one of fear.
You haven’t found out about Hell, suffering, hardship, dysfunction and then offered a solution in Christ. Hell, suffering, hardship and sin are evident in the world and God has sent His Spirit to dwell in us and give us the power to overcome it. As we face the things we face today, large or small, we can have confidence that there isn’t anything hiding in the grass that we have to fear. God has equipped us to handle it.