Fear of Following

Our All-Knowing God

God’s omniscience is hard for our earthly minds to comprehend. In fact, AI and the world’s supercomputers do not even come close to the all-knowing God. He knows everything about everyone and everything for all-time, which includes you and your needs now. In fact, He even knows you personally in His Son! Bask in that knowledge today.

Freedom to Serve

Christian freedom rightly used in love and vocation

I Am His Story: Madison

Madison was feeling anxious and worried. She wondered if it would make a difference if she spent time in God’s Word. She chose to spend one year reading God’s Word each day and memorizing a passage of scripture each month. Phil 4:4-9 was especially meaningful to her.

Fear of Following

Jesus doesn’t call disciples to “Follow their feelings,” nor to “follow culture and the crowd,” nor to “follow their own dreams and desires.” Rather, Jesus summons Matthew and us to “Follow Me.” Jesus’ call can elicit fear in us, as Matthew’s eyes indicate in Caravaggio’s first painting The Calling of St. Matthew. Lord, You’re calling me? (Implied lump in the throat) Did Matthew follow? Did he leave his fears behind? Oh yes, and he held a great banquet to celebrate Jesus’ marvelous grace! Jesus is calling right here, right now? How will we respond to His gracious call? Textual questions to ponder: 1. Jesus called Levi—whom we know as Matthew—to leave his comfortable and prosperous life as a tax-collector. What is Jesus asking you to leave behind? Why does that bring fear? 2. “Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:28) Why would anyone in their right mind do something like this? 3. What would your life look like if you answered Christ’s call to follow him? What is holding you back?

The Fear of Rejection

What do these people have in common? The teenager who gives into peer pressure. The wife who continues to give in to the absurd demands of an abusive husband. The Christian who never speaks to a friend about Jesus. They fear rejection. We too can be obsessed with this question, “What will people think?” We’re so afraid of people’s rejection, but the Bible warns us that that is a dangerous trap, as we see from the likes of Saul and the religious Pharisees. There is a better way to live! “Whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” Faith sets us free from the fear of rejection, for the Father has forever claimed us in His Son.