Editorial March 30, 1992 Issue

We don't need to live in fear

Michael D. Rissler

I taught a small Sunday School class of about half a dozen children, two or three of whom lived in the same neighborhood. In that neighborhood there was a story that all the children knew and with which the older children teased the younger ones. It was a story of an unseen stranger who supposedly skulked about the neighborhood after dark with a knife. My first impulse was just to brush aside the story, but then I realized that these youngsters' fears were not something that could be casually dismissed.

There was a fear that went beyond the simpler matter of being teased or staying inside after dark, and this was undermining the children's spiritual progress and confidence in their abilities to trust God and to do right in other situations. From time to time the issue came up in later weeks, and these became occasions to consider just what real obedience is, how one can confidently trust God in all situations, and importantly, how we can effectively face fear about evil things. And I was glad to see their progress as the class worked together on these issues.

Of course, it's not just children who have fears to face. Fear of evil, of danger, of illness—fear of all kinds of things—often seems to stand in the way of our total confidence in God's direction and government of our lives.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Exploring ideas together