Fear and Fear Not

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FEAR AND FEAR NOT

Matt 10:26-31

26 "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

Who should we not be afraid of is the question? When Jesus says, “So do not be afraid of them”, he must have been referring to who he already mentioned. It would seem he was not referring to the household of Satan, for he does mention their destructive scheme and their teacher who can kill both body and soul. So, the ‘them’ most likely implies those in the world who would persecute us. Certainly, they persecuted Jesus to the point of making effort to have him killed by the Romans.  His disciples, at least the twelve, were also persecuted, most of whom were either crucified or killed in another fashion. It seems John was the only one who was allowed to live in exile. However, the warning of Jesus speaks to all people throughout time, which means us. What can man do to us? Why would we fear man? They can only kill our bodies and if that were to happen, we would simply just leave our bodies behind, and join in the festivities in heaven, rejoicing in the presence of our Lord. It is unlikely in our country that we would be killed because of our faith, although many believers around the world are killed for their faith in Jesus. We could be persecuted, perhaps not in the manner that Jesus was, or His disciples, but we could find that we are looked at as different and may even be treated with some level of contempt. Of course, that would be predicated on the fact that we did not succumb to the pressures to be silent, to remain quiet about our faith, and that we do not mention their need to accept Jesus to be saved. If we go along with the flow of the world, we can be sure we would be safe, at least from those who can only kill the body, and we would even escape any form of persecution. However, it does not matter whether we remain silent, or boldly go forth where others have traveled before, speaking up and speaking out with the good news about the kingdom of God, the evil one will come after us, just because we are a Christian. Jesus tells them, and us, that this one, the evil one, is who we should be afraid of. That is not to say we should tremble in our boots or go hide in some dark corner of the house, or never leave the church in fear the evil one will destroy us. No, we are in Christ, and we are more valuable to God than many sparrows. He has given us the power to be able to take our stand, to stand our ground, against the forces of evil. He has clothed us in His armor, which Satan cannot penetrate. The Lord’s shield of faith alone can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We should fear Satan in that we view of knowing his plan of destroying us, but we also have no reason to fear him because we are in Christ. So, we fear and we fear not.