Unhealthy FearsSampl

When Fears Compete

I learned how to use the subway during a family vacation to New York City. All you do is hold up your payment app to the subway kiosk, and it will unlock the turnstile so you can walk through.

One day I successfully swiped my payment app four times, allowing my wife and three children to walk through the turnstile. But then my payment app decided to quit. I was stuck, and two competing fears overwhelmed me.

I was afraid to leave my wife and kids alone in a New York City subway. At the same time, I was afraid of what would happen to me if I jumped over the turnstile. (I envisioned the security footage going viral.) I confess that I did in fact jump over the turnstile to be with them.

What fears are competing in your life? Sometimes it’s easy to see which turnstiles we should jump over, but it often happens that the wrong fear wins out. What I have seen in my own life and in many others is that we often tend to hold on to the familiar, unhealthy fears that separate us from God.

Thank God for his love. Jesus was not afraid to jump the turnstile—even entering death—to be with us and rescue us. Ask him for the wisdom and courage to say no to the unhealthy fears that have a grip on you today.

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).