New Fears for Old

Fear is a frightful word. Fear is a killer of men, a destroyer of peace and effectiveness, and to be free from fear is an ideal earnestly to be sought after. Any man who could free other men of all their fears would surely have an innumerable following. But no man can free all other men of all their fears, for no man can control all of the factors that contribute to fear. And if any man could control all the factors of fear, he could control us also. Let’s look a little further to see if this is not so: Consider, for example, just one of the fears that is uppermost in the minds of men: the fear of economic insecurity. Suppose that it were possible for any man to guarantee all other men freedom from this fear. If this were so, should we not then have cause to fear the man who had the power to make it so? If he had the power to give so much, would he not also have the power to take it away? And should we not then have cause to fear his whims and caprices and changes of purpose? And, since men come and go, should we not then have cause to fear that new Pharaohs would arise, and that old fears would return? You see, we are sometimes guilty of seeing only part of our problem, for the removing of one fear often leads to another. And satisfying as it would seem to be free of this one fear, there is more to life than this. The man in jail has food and shelter. And anyone can go to jail. Cattle are fed and physically cared for. But neither the man in jail nor the cattle in the corral have much to offer that would interest any man who has tasted of the fruits of freedom. Loss of freedom is too big a price to pay for the removal of this one fear⎯or even of many fears. And actually our fears are not removed in this manner anyway but merely postponed or exchanged for new ones. Perhaps there are few, if any, in this life who are free from all fears. Perhaps the fullness of this cherished blessing is reserved for heaven. But the nearest approach to it that we know comes to free men who are willing to work, who have faith in the future, trust in God, and a conscience that deserves to be quiet.