Three Good Fears (1)

Fear and desire are the motivators of all that we do.  And of course they are connected.  We desire that which will take us as far as possible from our fears, and we fear that which will take us as far as possible from what we desire.  Both can be good, both can be bad.  But we are wise to consider them and get down to the bottom of both–because whether we like it or not that’s what will drive all that we do.

So while I have plenty of unhealthy fears (such as scuba diving, because it only takes one bad experience to scare us for life), I was recently processing through the real things. The real fears, the ones that are good (in appropriate measure), the ones that drive us to God and keep us careful and cautious.

Of course they are, in essence, all the same.  That is, missing this:

When we arrive at eternity’s shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more.  We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we’ll sing, You’re Beautiful.

That’s a day I do not want to miss.

I don’t want to miss that day, I don’t want to waste my life, I don’t want to get there and be filled with regret that I spent my life perfecting my tan when the real paradise will just have begun.  And, of course, by tan I mean all that is temporal, but in Oregon there’s nothing more temporal than a tan…

But I think the specifics of how that’s played out is individual to each of us.  We’re each prone to wander in different directions.  In different ways.  So as I sit before the Lord these are the good fears I identify. Perhaps you can relate. I’ll share these in three separate posts so you do not grow weary as you wade through words. Thanks.

:: The first fear is simply that my children would not follow Christ. I still remember when I was a kid reading some words of James Dobson that he had spoken to one of his children. He said his two greatest words of wisdom to his children were this:

“Be there.”

Though I was only a child at the time I remember being haunted by his words.  Yes, I thought, no wonder my parents prayed and pored over my life with such fervor.  No wonder my mom became the Oregon coordinator for moms in touch, meeting every single week with dozens of other moms, lifting us kids up to our God, holding us up to grace. No wonder my dad was so stinkin’ involved in my life all the time. 🙂 They want to make sure I would be there.

Now that I have my own little ones I understand this even more. Of course one of our greatest earthly responsibilities (second only to serving our husbands) is to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. I never want to take it for granted that my children will love and serve and follow Christ. Ido believe that God’s word encourages us that when we train up a child in the way he should go that when he is old he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). But my fear is that I would somehow get distracted by other “ministry” and miss my highest calling.  A fear that somehow I will not be faithful with the little lambs he’s entrusted to my care. A good fear, and real.  It fuels my new breath prayer,

Lord, help me to be faithful.

Another good fear is on its way, but for today: What are your fears? And not the ones about spiders or even the ones about cancer. The real ones, the deep ones, the ones the flow from your spirit. The ones that can fuel faith. Will you think a bit about that today and join me again tomorrow?

Thank you for reading.