What Are You Afraid Of?

I was teaching a group of kids once — third through sixth graders — and I asked them a question.

"Tell me the bravest thing you've ever done."

Every hand went up. And for the next few minutes, I listened to stories about jumping off the high dive, standing up to a bully, telling the truth when a lie would have been easier, going to a new school and not knowing anyone.

What struck me wasn't the stories themselves. It was the thread running through all of them.

Not one of those kids said they weren't afraid.

Every single story started with fear. The high dive was terrifying. The bully was bigger. The truth was going to cost something. The new school felt impossible.

But they did it anyway.

I didn't plan for that to be a lesson. But it became one — because that's the real definition of courage. Not the absence of fear. Courage is doing the right thing while you're afraid.

And it turns out, that's exactly what the Bible has been saying all along.

Fear Is an Act of Submission

The Bible contains the phrase "fear not" — or some form of it — more than any other command. God says it to Abraham, to Moses, to Joshua, to the disciples, to John on the island of Patmos. Angels say it every time they appear. Jesus says it constantly.

At first glance, it sounds like God is asking us to be emotionless. To somehow switch off a very natural, very human response to danger.

But that's not what's happening.

When you look at what fear actually does in a person's life, you start to see something important. Fear doesn't just make you feel bad. Fear changes your behavior. It shapes your decisions. It determines what you'll do and what you won't do, what you'll say and what you'll stay silent about.

In other words, fear gives something power over you.

And that's the key. When God says "fear not," He isn't asking you to be emotionless. He's saying: don't submit to that. Don't let that thing have authority over your choices.

Fear is an act of submission. And God is very particular about what we submit to.

Why God Warns Against So Many Things

This realization opened something up for me that I hadn't fully connected before.

Think about the things God warns us against most seriously in Scripture. Drugs and drunkenness. Witchcraft and the occult. Manipulation and control. Idolatry. Addiction of any kind.

On the surface, these seem like a list of rules. But look at what they all have in common.

Every single one of them works by capturing your submission.

Addiction doesn't just make you feel good — it makes you dependent. It takes something that started as a choice and turns it into a compulsion. You no longer decide freely; the substance decides for you. That's not just a health problem. That's a spiritual one. Something other than God now has authority over your will.

Witchcraft and the occult work the same way. They offer knowledge, power, or control — but at the cost of submitting to a spiritual force that is not God. The fear of the unknown, the desire for certainty, the hunger for power — these are the entry points. And once you're in, you're not in control anymore.

Manipulation works by using fear as a lever. The manipulator — whether it's a person, a system, or a culture — says: *if you don't do this, something bad will happen to you.* And if you believe them, you've handed them your will.

Consider secret societies that bind their members through oaths and curses — vows that invoke harm on loved ones if the member ever speaks the truth. That is fear institutionalized. It is submission enforced through threat rather than chosen in love. God's design is the exact opposite: He invites you to come to Him freely, with full knowledge, and He binds you with nothing but love.

God isn't just making rules. He's protecting something. He's protecting your freedom — your ability to choose, to think clearly, to act from love rather than from fear.

The Bravest People I Know

Back to those kids for a moment.

What made their stories brave wasn't that they conquered their fear. It's that they didn't let their fear make the decision for them.

The kid who jumped off the high dive was still terrified at the top. But he jumped anyway.

The girl who stood up to the bully was shaking. But she spoke anyway.

That's not the absence of fear. That's faith operating in the presence of fear. It's choosing to act on what you know is right rather than on what you feel is safe.

That's what the Bible calls courage. And it's available to anyone — not just the naturally bold, not just the people who don't feel things deeply. In fact, I'd argue that the people who feel fear most acutely and act anyway are the bravest ones of all.

The Fear That Sets You Free

Here's where it gets interesting.

The Bible doesn't just say "fear not." It also says — repeatedly, emphatically — that we should fear God.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Proverbs 9:10)

"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

"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." (Matthew 10:28)

At first, this sounds like a contradiction. Don't fear — but do fear God?

But it's not a contradiction at all. It's the answer.

The "fear of the Lord" isn't the same kind of fear as being afraid of a bully or a diagnosis or a financial crisis. It's closer to what we might call reverence — a deep recognition of who God is, how vast He is, how completely trustworthy He is, and how small and dependent we are by comparison.

It's the fear that a child has for a good father. Not the terror of someone who expects to be hurt, but the respect of someone who understands the difference between their own wisdom and their father's.

And here's the thing about that kind of fear: it crowds out all the others.

When you are genuinely submitted to God — when He is the one you revere, the one you trust, the one whose opinion matters most — the other fears lose their grip. What can a bully do to you if you're not afraid of what people think? What power does addiction have over a life that is no longer surrendered to it? What leverage does a manipulator have if you're not afraid of loss?

The fear of God isn't one more thing to be afraid of. It's the one submission that sets you free from all the others.

What Are You Giving Power Over You?

Those kids in my class didn't know they were illustrating a theological principle. They were just telling me about their lives.

But they showed me something true: the question isn't whether you'll feel fear. You will. We all do.

The question is what you'll do with it.

When fear shows up — and it will — the invitation is to ask: *What is this fear asking me to submit to? And is that something worthy of my submission?*

A fear of consequences might be wisdom. A fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But a fear that is keeping you from doing what's right, from being who you're called to be, from trusting the One who holds your life — that fear is a thief.

Don't give it what it's asking for.

The same God who said "fear not" to Abraham, to Moses, to the disciples — He says it to you. Not because your circumstances aren't hard. Not because the thing you're facing isn't real.

But because He is bigger than it. And He is the only One worthy of your reverence.

Submit to Him. And watch what happens to everything else you've been afraid of.