Don’t give into fear while waiting for your miracle to happen

I am a very high-functioning, low-vision person. My parents always encouraged me to try to do the things a “normal” child would do. Sometimes I succeeded, and sometimes I failed. However, through it all, I learned to be mostly independent. When people first meet me, they usually don’t realize that I have a disability, and are often shocked when I tell them that I am legally blind and colorblind.

Yet, despite being relatively well-adjusted, there are some things that I’ve been afraid to even try. While it is obviously wisdom for me to refrain from certain activities, I’ve noticed that most of the time, when I actually allow fear to hold me back from doing something, it isn’t because I’m afraid of failing. It’s because I didn’t really want to do it to begin with. When I decide that I really want to do something, I’m willing to push through the fear and get it done.

In one of our recent Sunday night church services, the speaker brought up the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25. In this story, Jesus told of a master giving a portion of money (talents) to three of his trusted servants. The first two worked hard to increase their master’s money, so that when he came back from his journey, they were able to present him with double the amount that he had entrusted them with. The master was happy with what these two servants had accomplished and gave them a promotion.

The third servant, however, hid his master’s money, and upon his return only gave him back what he had been given. The Master was furious! He took his money from the servant and had him cast out of his presence.

I’ve heard this parable many times, but that Sunday night I saw something that I had never noticed before. The servant claimed that he had hid the money, because he was afraid of his master. What I found interesting, however, was that as the Master was pronouncing his judgment upon him, he did not call him a fearful servant — he called him a lazy servant.

His master saw beyond his excuse to the real root of the problem. If that servant had been determined to please the one that he served, he would not have allowed fear to hold him back from doing what he knew his master would have wanted him to do.

We all have a spiritual disability called our carnal nature — our flesh. Our desire to have our own way constantly fights against the rule and order of God. Just like my physical disability limits what I am capable of doing, this intense longing to make ourselves happy and comfortable — no matter the cost — makes it impossible for us to accomplish the things that God has asked us to do.

Thankfully, God has given us something that more than compensates for our spiritual disability — His Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of us when we surrender our lives to Him. Therefore, no matter what path He asks us to take, we can do all things through Christ [in us] who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).

Once we understand that our strength comes from the Spirit inside of us who is completely capable in all situations, our claims of fear become merely ways of excusing ourselves from putting in the work that is needed for us to do what God has called us to do. Most of the time, we’re not nearly as afraid of failure as we are of the discomfort that we will experience if we commit to making the most of what God has entrusted to us.

We are really good at finding ways to accomplish what we really want to do — no matter what obstacles are in our way. So, the question is: do we really desire to walk in the plans that God has for our lives and to experience the miraculous? If so, then we are going to have to recognize that fear is often just an excuse that we use to back down from anything that takes more effort than our fleshly self really wants to give. I think that one of the biggest tragedies imaginable would be to reach the end of our lives and realize that we didn’t do anything of value because we were too afraid of the effort that it would take to do it.

We need to remember that no matter how difficult the task appears, we’re not facing it on our own. If God has called us to do something, then not only will He be faithful to do what we cannot do, but He will also supply us with the strength for every step that we need to take in the process.

Let us not be the lazy servant who uses fear as an excuse to maintain our own acceptable level of comfort. Let’s be determined to push past the fear and our own selfish desires to make the most of every opportunity that God has given us.

He is so much more than our Master. He’s our loving, heavenly Father. He has already given us everything that we need to accomplish the tasks He’s set before us. Let’s demonstrate our love for Him by stepping out in obedience and making every effort to use what we’ve been given to help other people come to know the greatness of His love for them.