The soul-killing, world-withering sin that feels like virtue

I did a quick count this morning and found:

“Do not worry” appears in the Bible nine times.

“Do not fear” shows up in the Bible 14 times.

“Do not be afraid” is refrains through the Bible 81 times.

Scripture records God and his spokespersons say “Do not be afraid/fear/worry” at least 104 times.

My parents started reading the Bible to me before I was a year old. Forty years of faithful daily study of Scripture and this week(!) it finally occurred to me that “Do not be afraid/fear/worry” is a divine commandment.

I added the “ment” to “command” for emphasis.

I would say “Do not be afraid/fear/worry” is in the same league as “Do not commit adultery/lie/murder/steal/etc.” (Ten Commandments kind of stuff).

None of those other commands get nearly as much airplay as “Do not be afraid/fear/worry.” I have to say it here: The “Ten Commandments” kind of commands may not be in the same league as “Do not be afraid/fear/worry.”

Perhaps it’s because God knows that fear drives human beings to break every one of the Ten Commandments and commit horrible evil.

If we can learn to obey the command to not fear, we won’t have any trouble obeying the other commands for humane and moral lives.

Perhaps that’s why American Christians like me are in so much trouble. We all like to be good Americans and what good is an American if he’s not afraid or worried about something?

I was raised to be afraid of Communists. Now social media and the talking heads want me to be afraid of capitalists, China, global warming, and radical Islam.

I was brought up in a culture that taught me to worry about appearance, career, health, money, social status, etc.

And maybe that’s why good Americans are always so busy. Being busy proves that we’re adequately worried about enough important stuff. And worry is proof of our conscientiousness, intelligence, and prudence.

We must surely be good and important people if we’re worried about stuff, right?

Worry is one thing. Americans don’t like to admit they’re afraid. Instead, we poke our fear (with help from politicians and their minions) until it lashes out as righteous anger. We get good and mad and gladly pay our taxes to send more bombs and guns to “make the world safe for democracy.” Which really just means “make America great again.”

And what good American wouldn’t want that?

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a critique of America. It’s a critique of myself: An American through and through who is trying to find and follow the Way of Jesus Christ.

I’m saying that in the case of the command to “Do not be afraid/fear/worry,” the American way of life conditions me (and maybe you) to do the opposite and call it a virtue.

But how much better would our lives be if we obeyed and practiced the Christian way of life instead? What if we literally made the decision and took action to not be afraid and to not worry? How could that change our lives? Our relationships? Our churches, families, homes, and neighborhoods?

I’m not just talking about feeling better and having more peace.

How much of what we do every day is coming from fear hijacking the controls of our lives? What if we stopped making decisions and plans based on worry? What if we stopped reacting and relating to people based on fear? What if we reimagined our lives by focusing on the possibilities of (fearless) love? How would we change? How would our world change?

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to give it a try.

Onward and upward.