Be Not Afraid, Only Believe

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. 

                                                                   (Mark 5:22-24, 39-39,  38-42 KJV)

"Do not be afraid, only believe." Jesus told the ruler of the synagogue not to worry himself; that he should not fear; but that he should believe; he should have faith. That is not to say that there is no fear that is healthy. Fear of God can be a good thing.  In the book of Hebrews we read:  "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 'For our God is a consuming fire.'" (Heb 12:28-29)

Fear and faith. Which shall we live by? Where there is no faith, you will most often find fear. Where there is no fear, there faith is found. According to Lutheran Theologian, Paul Tillich, "Fear is the absence of faith." Now that is not to say we totally lack faith if we get anxious over something. But, a little bit of anxiety should not turn into a fear that keeps us from moving forward in life. Fear should not stop us in our tracks! Fear should not keep us from living life in Christ.

I live in a rural community. There are a few small cities near by. In two of them, I find myself most comfortable. In another, I am not. I am not comfortable with the rudeness and arrogance I hear people aiming at one another of late. Some of them will even claim that they have to correct people because they love all people so much. Unbelievable! I know that the reason that they most probably do this is because they live in fear. It is a very sad thing to witness people living with so much fear. But, I admit that this bullying of others, that stems from fear, does make me a bit anxious as well (ok, a lot anxious) and so I avoid that community as much as possible. I do my business in the communities where people live in real community; where they show grace and mercy; respect and kindness to one another.

Over and over again Jesus told people not to fear and to have faith. Is that knot in your stomach, born of fear, something you really want to live with for the rest of your life? Believe in God, Trust in the promises that He has made to all who believe in Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

"...be not afraid, only believe." Believe and live an abundant life in Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J.