Fear of A Fearless

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."


"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.


"Not because you are?"


"I am not.  But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

- Prince Caspian, Chronicles of Narnia 


I just finished Max Lucado's Fearless after skipping C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity (I'm saving it for last) and I feel obliged to share a bit of what I just digested. The book or the author, more appropriately, discussed all sorts of fears - from psychological and mental fears to physical ones, and how they are to be dealt with through Scripture, prayer and our daily dose of relationship with life's very author. But my favorite chapter did not talk about all those negative fears (sounds redundant? But no.) Instead, it enlightened me about the only one healthy terror we should have. And much emphasis on the auxiliary verb. Fear of the Lord.  This very virtue bothered me during Christian Life Education classes back in highschool.  I just didn't get it, no matter how a believer I confessed myself to be.  I didn't get the idea of how the very concept of dread could be juxtaposed with how I understood an almighty Creator.  What is fear of the Lord? And why is it good? Could fear ever be good? "As awe of Jesus expands, fears of life diminish," Max elucidates.  Author Ellen F. Davis captures it more sharply: "Fear of the Lord is the deeply sane recognition that we are not God." And that's when I go with my Ooooh's and Aaah's. As we grow in our understanding of God, He becomes greater in our lives.  Not that He ever was less, but that we could never really take His greatness in just one sitting.  Reading the book taught me how to deal with my fears the way God wants me to, but the idea of "fearless" stood out most manifestly with the idea of fear of God.  Fear of the Lord expels all other fears. When you know (and you can't even measure) how awesome great your God is, a feeling of holy awe and fear sinks in. And with this humbling feeling, you are comforted by the fact that the BIG guy who rose from the dead, breathed stars, fed thousands and healed hopeless sick cases and more IS on your side. And when He is on your side, naturally He is against all your enemies, including all your bad-ass panic attacks and hysteria. So we take Him in, one at a time, step by step, time after time, glory by glory. But growing old is not exactly synonymous with familiarity.  If you are indeed growing in God, you will never become familiar.  Because Jesus can never be placed and can never fit in a box and He is a God full of surprises, though He never changes. How can you ever be familiar? Familiarity settles only when worship becomes religious.

So I came to a conclusion, which God ushered in with Max's big help during this summer respite. What is there to fear indeed? Growing old and weary? Not knowing what's going to happen next? Failure? Change? Calamities? Death? Not even.  For death, I learned, is a picture of the groom taking the hand of the bride, walking her along the aisle that leads before the Father.  It's a celebration not to be feared, but to be, well, celebrated.  Especially when you know why on earth you were here for. And now, I heave a big sigh of relief...and excitement.

So fear less. Then fearless be. ;)

True.

"What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." -Pedro Arrupe SJ

Ikaw, para kanino ka nga ba bumabangon?