One of the joys of being reared in a small town in Indiana was being able to ride my bicycle almost anywhere I wanted. Like the children in the movie "E.T.," I felt the exhilarating freedom of the breeze blowing against my face, fearlessly making my bike perform acrobatic miracles.
Before my friends and I reached the required age for a driver's license, we were happy to wheel around town on our bikes. After school and Saturdays would find groups of us testing the speed of the bikes and the fortitude of the riders. If we cut across Mrs. Smith's lawn I'd hear about it from my mothers when I got home and we knew that Mr. Hunt who ran Hunt's Grocery, would come to the door and yell, "Get off the sidewalk with your bicycles, boys!" As I look back on it, those were happy days growing up in a small town.
My home town of Brazil, Indiana is located in Clay County. Now Clay County didn't get it's name from a person, but from what the ground was made up of. It was clay. A sort of orange, reddish clay that clings to almost everything, no matter how much brushing you might do to dislodge its grip. It is guaranteed to ruin everything it touches. One afternoon a group of us were on our bicycles going across town and we cut across a vacant lot where a garage was being built (by the way, this was right across from where Louise lived at the time). The lot was pure clay, and as we started across it, I took a turn that was a little quicker than it should have been. The bike fell over on its side and clay covered the wheels.
I got up, shook the bicycle a few times and the clay was still there. Not only that, but it got on the chain and the sprockets. What did I do? I got on the bike and started, but couldn't go as fast as the others, and all I could hear was a sloshing sound. I could turn and twist and put on the brakes, but there was the worse noise I'd ever heard and I had the feeling that the clay was going to cause my bicycle to disintegrate.
When I finally caught up with everybody else, they were already at Hunt's Grocery have a Coca-Cola. I spent 2 complete Saturdays working to get they clay out of the sprockets and gears of the bicycle and it never was really any good after that. Santa Claus finally relieved me of the burden of that bike.
Many of us go thru life getting clay in the gears. It accumulates and it's not something that can be easily washed away. The clay begins to gum up our gears and wear them down until we really are not as efficient as we ought to be. We accumulate a little trash along in life, but I'm talking about clay that really clogs the gears. Fear is a big handful of clay in your gears and your life will never be the same again.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that there are 4 freedoms -- freedom from want, freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom from fear. Most of us cherish the first 3 freedoms but we rather like fear. I have watched people grab their fears and wallow in them. Our fears become a prison providing security. As long as we keep our fears in this parameter, we don't have to do a lot of things. We all have a very healthy dose of fear.
The Bible speaks of fear. There are 365 places in the Bible where the words clearly mean "fear not". Let me remind you of several outstanding examples. Abraham left safety and security to go to an unknown place and God said, "Fear not." Joseph was given the assurance by God that Jacob was all right and that all was well. Moses stood by the Red Sea ready to lead the children of Israel across. Pharaoh's army was behind him and a rebellious, fearful congregation surrounded him. God spoke thru Moses, saying, "...Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord..." (Ex.14:13). In the book of Revelation the resurrected Christ says to the churches, "Fear not" (Rev.1:17). The Bible clearly gives us one "fear not" per day to remind us that Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ, says, "fear not".
In the 6th chapter of John's gospel there is an interesting story of Jesus and the disciples healing, feeding and teaching. When Jesus began to move away from the crowd, they wanted to pull Him back and make Him a political messiah. They were going to make Him king of all earthly kings. He would have been a natural vote getter. Anybody who could heal the wounded and the sick and feed the poor could get elected. They were going to do it.
Jesus refused their urgings and moved away from them. (Some of our current political and religious leaders should learn from this) Jesus went up into the mountains to pray and the disciples left Tiberius by boat to go to Capernaum. Capernaum was the "home office" and they were going home. As they were crossing the lake, a storm came up and they were terribly distressed and afraid. They looked up and saw Jesus coming to them across the water. While He was on the water coming to them, He said, "It is I; do not be afraid" (John 6:20). He simply came to them, got into the boat and they docked. You see, that's God's word to us. He doesn't still the storm, but He comes to get in the boat with us.
Sigmund Freud, known for his insight into human personality, said that there are 3 basic fears we bring from childhood into our adulthood.
1. THE FEAR OF THE BODY DISINTEGRATING, OR THE DECAYING OF THE BODY.
2. THE FEAR THAT SOME GREAT EXTERNAL FORCE WILL OVERWHELM US WITHOUT MERCY.
3. WE FEAR THE COLLAPSE OF A RELATIONSHIP.
Yet I would be quick to tell you that fear is not all bad. God gave us fear for a very special reason. Fear is a smoke detector for the brain, to tell you there is a fire burning and you had better put it out. God put fear there for a purpose. Would you want to fly on an airplane with a pilot who had no fear. Would you want a prescription from a pharmacist who had no fear and said, "Oh, just a pinch of this and a pinch of that?" Of course not.
The reason I try to eat right is because I really fear bad health. If I eat wisely I'll have better health. The reason a lot of people work is because they fear poverty. And the reason a lot of people go by the rules of life is because they fear moral wreckage. Fear and anxiety blend together to create havoc in one's soul. Anxiety is a disproportional reaction to an imaginary danger.
Jesus mixes fear, worry and anxiety back and forth in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us not to worry or be filled with anxiety. That's what those who have no religion do. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things shall be added unto you" (Mt.6:33). There is a purpose for fear. Fear is good. It's given to us by God for a purpose. But there is an abnormal fear or anxiety. That's what I am talking about. Worry and anxiety eat up the human flesh and destroy you within. They become like a whirlpool in the middle of your life.
I was walking by a man-made lake one day and noticed that a culvert had been placed in the middle of it to take care of the overflow. There had been heavy rains that week, and as the rains came out of the hills and lands around this lake and into the lake itself, I watched the water swirl around the culvert. I watched the leaves and the twigs and the debris on top of the water as they floated quietly and easily until caught into the aura and the spell of the whirlpool. Then they would get sucked in and pulled down.
Fear and anxiety become a whirlpool of the soul. Things work all right on the exterior of it but somehow, as things begin to float to the center, they are sucked up in it, and NOTHING seems to be able to deliver us.
We all have irrational fears that plague our journeys thru life. Fear can either be destructive or helpful. It can destroy our health. I read of a medical experiment which consisted of putting a tube into a man's stomach thru the nose to measure the stomach acids. The person would be put in a stressful situation and the stomach acids would flow. He would go to sleep at night, have nightmares and the stomach acids would flow. You know that. The makers of antacids are rich because they know that. Ulcers and all kinds of physical problems come as the body reacts to stress.
I read of a farming experiment done with chickens. They induced fear into a flock of chickens and found out that they couldn't lay eggs. Turkeys, as ugly as they are, are very strange and temperamental creatures. People taking care of turkeys changed from the normal work attire to something new, fed them at a different time of day, inducing fear into the turkeys. Their growth was stunted! Fear can be hazardous to one's health.
What are we going to do? I've told you that it's bad. Perhaps you are saying, "I'm not going to be afraid anymore." And all that does is reinforce the fear. You don't get rid of a negative by simply saying, "I'm not going to worry anymore." You'll worry over not worrying. You need to put a positive in its place. You really need to decide how long you're going to coddle your fear. I guarantee you that most of us have held onto these fears because they are uncomfortable. It is easy to cling to our worries.
Let me give you 5 ways to get rid of your fear. It's guaranteed successful. Do this every day and you'll be free of fear and worry.
1. FACE YOUR FEAR.
I am bothered this morning by: 1. 2. 3. 4.
You'd be surprised when you commit them to writing, how, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, small they get. Whey I put them down on paper they're manageable.
2. CUT THEM OPEN.
I said, "Are you an American?"
He said, "Look, I didn't lose my life. My family is in good health. I've still got a job. It's only money."
Then he said, "When I analyzed it, I found out that the important things are still in place. God has not rejected me. My soul is still within His hands and my family is okay."
3. DISOWN THE FEAR.
4. DISPLACE FEAR.
5. DEAL WITH FEAR EVERY DAY.
The disciples were in the boat and the storm was raging. Jesus came and got in the boat with them. The only thing that mattered was that Jesus was in the boat.
I don't know what you're carrying. I don't know what clay mess is in your gears. I don't know what kind of pressures are coming in your life, but you are not made to handle these alone. Look up and see Jesus walking to you saying, "It is I, do not be afraid" (John 6:20). Let Him get into your boat with you.
