The Spirit of Fear

I was very entertained recently to come across a newspaper picture and article from 1956. My mother collected and scrap booked long before it was the modern rage. There we were, six children lined up like steps of stairs from the eldest on the left to the youngest on the right. A smiling Mark is second from the right. The picture was taken in our school grounds…I would assume with the permission of our principal. Each of us held, with some confidence I might add, a baseball bat or large carved club over our right shoulder. The caption under the six inch by eight inch black and white picture reads, “Kids Carry Clubs in Rabies Scare”. The article goes on to describe how we have been armed and are ready to fend off the attack of rabid foxes on the way to and from school. The dangers to children in rural areas are emphasized and indeed all children are warned to stay away from all wild animals which may be acting strangely or are indeed already dead. Even as an eight year old, I recall being somewhat perplexed and confused by the adults present disarming us by collecting the clubs and sending us on our way home. The picture had been staged as a warning to others. There would be no club carrying kids in our rural, soon to become suburban, neighbourhood. The idea of course was to incite fear in the readers and thus respect for wild animals and their diseases.

Rabies was and still can be a fearful disease. It is a disease spread by mammals, including humans, that attacks the nervous system and until the advent of a vaccine resulted in most certain death resulting from extreme confusion, seizures and eventually fatal breathing problems. The disease has been all but eradicated in humans in North America through concerted efforts of public education and the use of an effective vaccine for those at risk. All domestic pets in North America are inoculated yearly in order to avoid the spread to dogs and cats from wild animals such as foxes, racoons and skunks. In some third world countries, the disease is still spread by livestock as well. In the middle of the last century it was still a well known and much feared disease.

As I looked at this picture of smiling children who are now or are soon to become senior citizens, I realized how often we are motivated by fear. There are times of course, especially in the face of imminent danger, that being afraid is necessary, but so often it is not. Jesus used the words “fear not” on multiple occasions in the New Testament. The quote that immediately came into my mind, however, was from 2Timothy 1:7.

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

When I find myself fearful, I remind myself of Paul’s advice to Timothy. Jesus also gives us very good advice regarding what we should properly fear in Matthew 10:28.

28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

If we are to fear at all, we should not fear things that can kill just the body, like rabies, but we should reserve our concern for the God of the universe who holds our entire lives, body and soul, in His hands now and for all eternity.

Finally in the Book of Revelation, John tells us what Jesus said to him regarding why he should not be afraid. (Rev. 1:17)

17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Indeed he is the Alpha and the Omega. He has always been, is now and He will always be. Because He was dead and is now alive forevermore, we can choose to be alive forevermore with Him in heaven by our belief and faith, not our fear.

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