A People Living in Fear

We are a people living in fear.

There is a financial crisis, and we are trapped in it. Or so we are told. There is violence and we must protect ourselves from it in reasonable, ethical, moral ways. Of this I am certain.

But too often our fears are exaggerated. We live in fear of our neighbor. Because we hear the worst news, we assume (or at least maintain a sneaking suspicion) that the stranger in need is really a predator to our better nature, waiting to con or kill us.

For those of us who have "no extra" money, we see the person in need on the street and think, if only we could give them a little bit of the green stuff, we could help them. Forgetting that what they really need is food... and love, both of which we have.

I recently moved from the country to the city. I suspect every sound at night, at least in the back of my mind, as being someone coming for me. I know this is foolish, but I have never lived so long in so close proximity to so many other people. And so I live in fear.

I also recently became substantially more financially independent. As my roommate (a fellow contributor to this blog) can attest, my fear of bankruptcy translated immediately into a peculiar form of anal-retentiveness about the electricity that took on almost comical proportions when we first moved in. And so I live in fear.

"...Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still." (Exodus 14:13-14)

And the waters parted, and the people crossed, and the waters swallowed Pharoah and his army.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.... Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? ... And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these." Matt. 6:25-30

This word flies in the face of our modern sensibilities. Do not worry. And so, when confronted with the question, "Why do you lock your door? Why do you have insurance?" I was slow to answer. I thought,and I thought, and I thought. And then I realized. We are, to an extent, right to be afraid. The words of Dr. Steve Reid in his recent chapel address come to mind: "Don't be dumb." Look at the world around us. We are right to be afraid.

But...

We are not right when we let our fears consume us. Precaution is not sin. It is a recognition of the fallenness of our world. If a lock on my door keeps a would-be murderer out of my house, it also keeps me from retaliating or violently protecting myself or my loved ones against him- for my pacifism is as yet untested. But when we spend our lives paralyzed by fear and worry, when we become preoccupied with financial and domestic security, that is the sin.

Let us not forget how Jesus in Matthew concludes the paragraph excerpted above:

"But strive first for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matt. 6:33)

The command is strive first! Give God our best effort. Make that priority one. But in the mean time, don't be dumb. Forsaking security is poor stewardship: It opens us up to a world of poverty it was in our hands to prevent, and prevents us from willingly giving of our resources to help those who are in need.