Mark 5:36
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”

Jesus said this to Jarius, leader of the temple, when the people came to Jarius and told him his daughter was dead. He had come to Jesus because his daughter was dying and now his worst fear was realized. Jesus removed that fear when he went to Jarius’s home and told his daughter to get up.


“Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Easier said than done. Even as a person of faith, it can be hard to put aside fear. Fear is a primitive defense. The Bible has a lot to say about fear and the need to recognize our Lord God walking with us into that fear. I think people who show courage have not let the fear of the consequences of their actions overwhelm them. I think of the first martyr Stephen and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu as strong examples of faith in the face of danger. And I believe they were so committed to living out the righteousness of God in their lives and so strengthened by God’s presence that they lived with their fear and moved forward anyhow.

 

So what example can their lives be for you and me in today’s world? We can recognize our fears and pray about them. Sometimes when we are called to stand up to injustice in small ways, ask God for the faith to do this. Psalm 27 talks about this: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I thank you
that you already know
my fears and anxieties.
Help me to name them
and face them before you.
Help me to be willing to step forward
when I would rather hang back in fear.
Guide me in your pathway
and be always beside me
in living out the faith that is within me.
In name of Jesus
and in the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray.

Amen.