As humans, we all experience fear in some capacity. In certain circumstances, fear can be helpful in the prompting of action for future betterment. In other situations, it can be extremely detrimental to our psyche.
Ask yourself now: What are my fears? How do I personally respond to them? These are a couple of questions I have found asking myself over and over again in this season of my life. To tell you the truth, it is difficult to narrow it down to one because I fear several things. However, I will be vulnerable with you and share one persistent fear in my life, and that is the fear of rejection. That can look like a number of things. Here are a few examples: rejection from my peers, family, relationships, elders, fear of inadequacy, etc. Let’s just say from personal experience, I can tell you this: Fear is never enjoyable.
I can recall many times in my life when I have been so consumed by the opinions of others and the fear of rejection that it actually hinders the ability to accomplish anything productive. I despise this feeling and I simply don’t want it to affect my life negatively anymore. I have reason to believe that I am not alone in this area. Why do we care so much about the opinion of others? Fear causes us to do silly things. It causes us to put on facades, mask our true identity, and ultimately not walk in the fullness that Christ offers to us. It can be extremely discouraging when I get these feelings of fear and rejection at times. In another perspective, the same degree to which fear can damage us, it also has the potential to spur us onto the advancement of walking in the boldness and confidence for which we were created. The bible says that God is love and that perfect love drives out fear.
In second Timothy, it says “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control” (Verse 7). If we could be intentionally cognizant to lay down the lies of the world about who we are, we could actually begin to learn how to walk in the identity of Christ and how he views us. He does not view or judge us in the way that the world does. In his eyes we are loved, forgiven, and perfect. This month, I choose to leave behind the binding fear of rejection. Instead of hiding and masking my identity when faced with adversity, I want to run straight towards it. I choose to believe what God has to say about me, not what others may be thinking about me. Nelson Mandela once said: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”. Fear happens to all of us. But, it is how we respond to it that can make all the difference.
