My cousin and I were cruising downhill on our skateboards, as 12-year-olds love to do. The street was perfectly sloped to give us some good speed, and was off the beaten path so we didn’t deal with cars.
As I sped down the hill on my skateboard, I caught sight of a paper bag on the street just ahead. I thought it would be cool to run it over. I did. It wasn’t cool.
The bag immediately jammed the wheels of my skateboard, which then stopped my skateboard while I flew through the air. I landed front first on the asphalt, slamming my chin and scraping my entire front side. It hurt. Bad.
I haven’t skateboarded over a paper bag since. It scares me, as it should.
What should make you more afraid? Your drinking? Your need for control? Your secret sin you can’t shake? Porn? Spending habits? Poor choice in friends?
Sometimes we’re afraid of the wrong things. It’s not wrong to be afraid, if what scares us should truly scare us.
Here are a few proverbs from the Bible warning us to be more afraid (Proverbs 22:3,5,7,10-12,14,15):
“The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls,
but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.
The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender.
Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;
quarrels and insults are ended.
One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace
will have the king for a friend.
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit;
a man who is under the Lord’s wrath falls into it.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.”
Which one of these righteous fears has your name on it? Be more afraid, and when you are, you will be more attentive to it, more obedient to God’s call avoiding it, and more appreciative of the grace of God you need to say no.
PRAYER: God, I want to be more afraid of the things that you say are dangerous for me. Teach me to fear the right things, and to trust in you for the other right things. Amen.
REFLECTION: Pick one verse above that applies to you, and spend 5 minutes meditating and praying on it.