My neighbor, Mrs. Perry, is passionate about security. Five years ago, she heard about a burglary down the block. The thieves left computer and stereo equipment but made away with $10,000 worth of jewelry. Although Mrs. Perry doesn’t own expensive jewelry, she has since installed bars on all her windows, double deadbolts on her doors, and a high powered state-of-the-art multi-room motion sensor alarm system.

The other day I saw Mrs. Perry inspecting her back gate for security lapses. She suggested, politely, that I consider window bars for our home. I thought of the beautiful view from my office and had to smile. My office looks onto the perfect serenity of Mrs. Perry’s English garden.

The Evening News

Mrs. Perry’s fear is partly a by-product of living in Los Angeles. Simply watching a news broadcast gives the impression there are more things to fear in L.A. than there are cars on the freeways.

The news hour typically begins with international headlines. Bad reports from around the globe provide the small comfort that they are happening somewhere else. But the national news quickly reminds us that Americans are suspicious off one another, politicians are corrupt, and the deficit is rising.

Local stories heap insult upon injury proving how thieves, rapists, abusers, pedophiles, gangsters, and road-ragers are discovering new and perverse ways to express depravity. Add to that the dire state of public education, rising gas prices, and dangerous smog levels and the silver lining of our cloud becomes very hazy indeed.

Even typically benign news items about weather and health are frightening in Los Angeles. Never mind earthquakes and wildfires, drizzles of rain are now given special banner graphics and declared in the voice of monster truck announcers: “Storms are coming . . . the southland braces itself!”

Finally, the news hour wraps up with a health professional telling about some new and dangerous chemical that is probably in your house right now and you may well be dead by morning. The credits roll. The recipe for panic is complete.

Do Not Fear What They Fear

Fear changes people.

When fearful, people eye each other suspiciously at the supermarket. They get houses with higher fences and spend more time indoors. Phrases like “identity theft” become buzzwords. A reluctance to disclose information blocks potential relationships. Soon, just sending your kids out of the house feels like you’re rolling the dice with their lives.

Yet Scripture insists on a different perspective. The words were spoken by angels, apostles, and even Jesus: “Do not be afraid.”

“Be anxious about nothing,” wrote Paul. And, “we did not receive a spirit that makes us slaves again to fear.” “Don’t fear what they fear,” Peter commanded.

John wrote, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Facing his own execution Jesus told his disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled,” and, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

Rivers of Joy

The early church had many reasons to be afraid. But while death and persecution weighed in on all sides, a flowing wellspring of joy gave them fearless confidence. Their joy was deep, inexhaustible, and uncrushable. Their joy garnered opposition and hatred, but it also carried the power to change the world.

The key to their joy was the knowledge that sin, death, and Hell had been conquered once and for all on the cross of Christ. Suffering and death might come, but they could only inflict the pain of a defeated foe. Meanwhile, their eternal identity as God’s children had been secured in Christ forever.

As more than conquerors they withstood beatings, sang behind prison doors, and looked to Heaven while their earthly lives were extinguished by the sticks and stones of angry mobs. But their joy was full. And they were not afraid.

Of course, we should be sensible. We should lock  our doors, look before we cross the street, and choose our babysitters with great care. But above all, we should seek that joy. Our lives may be taken at any time, but the joy of knowing Christ is forever. His perfect love casts out fear. And the joy he gives is more valuable than anything we could possess or protect.

I pray that Mrs. Perry will come to know that joy. I pray that you might know it, too. |L

Rich Braaksma is a freelance writer in Venice, California.

OUTLOOK is a forum for responsible Christian writers. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Standard Publishing or The Lookout.

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