We don’t have to work at fear. Fear is natural. Fear comes easy. Fear is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Fear is like the bottomless fries at Red Robin – it’ll keep coming until you say enough is enough.
Faith, on the other hand, takes work. Not in the earn your salvation or God’s love kind of way. Those are free gifts anyone can have. I mean the get up and do the hard things kind of way.
What are the hard things of faith? It’s getting up early to fill your soul with God’s word and cast your cares to him in prayer when you’d rather sleep in. It’s getting involved in a good church when you would rather stay at home and binge watch Netflix. It’s loving your neighbor when you would rather give them a piece of your mind. Its forgiving someone who hurt you when all you want to do is hurt them back. It’s turning off your phone and letting your soul rest from all the noise instead of scrolling Facebook until your thumbs are numb. It’s finding a way to serve the world instead of simply complaining about it.
Faith is hard work. There are days when you’ll miss the mark or want to throw in the towel, but it’s worth it if you stick with it. And the best part – you don’t have to do it alone. God wants to give you his presence, power, and people to help.
Don’t accept the fear in your life just because it’s easier than doing the hard work of faith. Go after faith – real faith – in the God who made you, loves you, sacrificed everything for you, and can help you with what you’re going through today.
Jeff McClung 