Oak Hill Church of Christ 10-30-22 Message: "The Idolatry of Fear"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the peace that comes through active and continuing faith.

Too often, even those who are devoted followers of God may find themselves occupying His seat. They view God as a stern schoolmaster. "If I come to Him too often and reveal to Him that I don't know what I'm doing and I need His help again, He will yell at me and make light of me in front of the other children of God. I'll be humiliated."

With that point of view, the follower of God views his faith life as one to be attempted solo, only calling upon God as a measure of last resort, so as to minimize the amount of times when God will be angry, and so that he will appear very, very grown up in front of the other children.

Unfortunately, this is the wrong way to go about a life of faith. God, contrary to our perception, prefers to be called on constantly, and preferably first. He enjoys being trusted, and finds a great deal of joy in knowing that He has earned our trust and dependence.

Placing God first allows Him the opportunity to resolve problems before they become so awful that we cannot bear to think of them anymore. Sometimes, our own actions may be the cause of the very thing which we fear, and the more time we spend 'fixing' the problem, the more we grow the fear of the outcome until it is too great for us to bear.

God does not want His children to bear distress and psychological trauma which they could have avoided by turning to Him first. He does not want anyone to be crushed beneath the burden of avoidable mistakes.

If you find yourself buckling under the weight of fear because you delayed in turning to God; or, perhaps, you have been placed in a state of fear through the actions of another: turn to God, surrender these problems and your control over them to God. Rest in Him, and receive His loving guidance which drives away the fear. Take your place as a child of God and come to your Father as a child does; to be taken cared after by the Creator of the Universe is no shameful thing.

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” - C.S. Lewis