Afraid

What would you do for God if you weren’t afraid?

That’s the question we tackled. You took several minutes to think and write down your answers.

The majority of answers fell into two themes: 1) “I would talk about God much more than I do” – with friends in normal conservation and through difficult conversations, 2) I would pray in front of people – at Youth, in Sunday School, and by initiating prayer with friends.

If you weren’t afraid, you would talk with God in front of others, and talk about God more.

We sampled some of the thoughts God has given us regarding fear, Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 43:1, Psalm 118:6, Romans 8:15, and Romans 8:31, and were reminded of our place as God’s children, under His care, His protection, His wisdom. We have nothing to fear!

We discussed how you face and overcome other fears all the time – you stand up in front of class and give a report, you play sports in front of crowds, you get on the roller coaster, you face the 4-H judge, you ask the girl / boy to the dance, you start driving. These are all scary things! You weigh the cost of facing your fear against the potential reward and you make the choice to plow ahead despite your fear.

So why does the fear of talking about God seem harder to overcome? We discussed several reasons then focused on one – there isn’t an immediate deadline or trigger. In all the examples above, there is something that demands action at a specific time – due date, game day, end of the line, judging date, dance is next Friday, you turn 15.

Talking to others about God doesn’t have an obvious deadline. I challenged you to create a deadline for yourself, “Thursday I will weave God into my normal conservation twice and see how it goes.” And to create triggers based on what you consider missed opportunities in the past, “Next time she states no-one cares about her, not only will I remind her that I care, but that God does also.”

You have demonstrated that you can overcome fear – you do it all the time. By creating deadlines and triggers, you can overcome your fear about talking about God in the same way you overcome your other fears. You’ll know when you’ll face your fear, you’ll prepare for it, and when the deadline or trigger presents itself, you’ll act – fear and all.

God will help you change your “I would” into “I just” – ask for His help. Weigh the cost (being uncomfortable for a moment) against the potential reward for your friends (an eternity spent with God). You and God have got this.