I have been a Christian for most of my life and have been in church for a lot of it too. I really appreciate the message of ‘fearing not,’ as the reality is that we all have so many things we can be fearful of in our life.
You could lose your job tomorrow. Your business could run out of clients and it’s game over. Your husband or wife could blindside you with wanting a divorce. Your children could get mixed up with the wrong crowd and turn to drugs. You might not have enough in savings for retirement. You get the idea; we could be here for a while compiling a list.
The Bible is right in telling us not to fear. I have been in business for 25 years now, and I can tell you that many times I have had a lot to fear. There is nowhere to hide when you run a company. You’re either making money and making payroll and staying on top of your bills, not to mention your taxes, or you’re not. If you’re in the latter, trust me, there is plenty to fear. The consequences are dire.
However over time, I have learned that fear can be a good preceptor to what is going on in your world. I have learned that there is actually quite a difference between fear and anxiety. Anxiety is being worried about things that may never happen, while fear can actually be a sign that things are not right and there is in fact something to be worried about.
If you’re about to run onto an NFL field and you are not ready to play at that level, you should be very worried. If I asked you to paddle out at Pipeline in Hawaii and you’re not a strong surfer, you would literally have a panic attack on the beach. If I handed you the reins of a business with 300 staff and yours has five at present, you’re going to be out of your depth very quickly and are probably going to make a very big mess of a lot of peoples’ lives. Your fear is healthy because you’re in a bad predicament and you need to make some changes to your current circumstances.
Fear is actually real, and fear can be a sign that things are not okay. The question I ask you is, what you fearful of right now, versus what are you anxious about? It is worth taking stock of the things keeping you up at night versus worrying about things that might not ever affect you.
So we must fear not, for God is with us, but it is worth taking a quick look at what you might need to address in your life that can actually remove that fear. Getting on top of some areas that are really causing you stress might get rid of some fears once and for all.
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Matt Danswan is the CEO of Initiate Media, publishers of Christian Woman & Co. He also blogs at www.mattdanswan.com. His new book NOT Business As Usual documents the story of the building of Initiate Media debt-free.
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