Did you know faith and fear are more similar than you might think? I believe they’re two sides of the same coin.
What is faith? The definition of faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It sounds good. Great, in fact. We all need to have faith. I have faith in God, my wife, and my abilities. What do you have faith in?
Now, what about fear? What is the definition of fear? Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
Hmmm… Those definitions seem to be eerily similar. But let’s break it down and see three ways they’re alike.
3 Reasons Faith And Fear Are Similar
We know the definitions of faith and fear. But do we know where they collide?
Faith and fear are similar because:
Faith and fear can come from the unseen:
We can’t see God. He’s not taking on physical form on earth. No, he’s an unseen entity. Yet, we have faith that He is real. We may have experienced miraculous healing, seen a friend or family member change their life, or experienced a moment when our hearts no longer ached.
We didn’t see these things. We experienced them. They were unseen but felt.
What about fear? There’s the fear someone may break into our home. You may fear your spouse leaving you despite any evidence to the contrary. There could be fear of driving on snow-covered roads even though you never had an accident before.
Again, we don’t see these things except in our minds. Faith and fear are both unseen.
Faith and fear will affect your actions:
Faith can give you the strength and energy to continue going even when you don’t think you can. Why? Because you believe God is there with you. Or you might believe that you are stronger than you’ve been led to believe. You might know that you’ve done hard, challenging things in the past and the future holds more of that.
So…
You go and act in faith. You take the next steps toward a new career, you go back to college, or you start a new business. All because you have faith that you can.
On the flip side of the coin, there’s fear.
Fear saps the strength faith gives you. If you’re agoraphobic, fear tells you not to walk out the door. There are scary things that you don’t know about out there. Fear will stop you from making the tough leadership call because you’re afraid people will become angry with you. Or you may find yourself frozen in fear when you because no one is giving you direction and you don’t want to make a mistake.
Both fear and faith will affect your actions.
Fear and faith will impact your emotions:
Think about when you are filled with faith. Your emotions change. You feel confident, joyful, and ready to take on the world. Your emotions change. You know you’ve got this and you’re cheerful about the future.
Fear gives you the opposite emotions. Fear will bring sadness, depression, and anxiety into your life. You’ll feel scared and unable to do the things you need to do.
You Get To Choose Faith Or Fear
Now’s the tough part. You know fear and faith are similar. They produce an emotional response, can change the actions you’re going to take, and both come from the unseen.
But you don’t have to continue living in fear. You can choose to say no to fear and yes to faith.
Today, you get to choose whether you’re going to live in faith or live with fear.
What are you going to choose?
