The Prevelance of Fear

May 7

In Luke 21:25,26 the Lord tells us that in the last days men's hearts will be "failing them for fear for those things that are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." In II Timothy 3:1, Paul says much the same thing to his young disciple, "In the last days, perilous times shall come."

Paul goes on to describe those perilous times in II Timothy 3:2-7: For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. They shall be without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, fierce, dispersers of those who are good, traitors, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

They will have a form of godliness but will deny the power of God Himself over them. From such--stay away! For they are the sort who creep into your lives and lead you away with foolish deceptions and lusts. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of truth." These words ring quite true in the age in which we live. Not only are ordinary people of this ilk, but so are people who are in positions of leadership.

In verse 13, the great Apostle states frankly that at this juncture in time, when things have waxed worse and worse, "the end shall come." This parallels what Jesus said in Matthew 24:21, "There shall be great and unequaled distress upon the earth, unlike any that has ever been." The great peril of these days will deception. False messiahs will profess to be the Christ and foolish men who are ungrounded in faith shall stumble after them.

How are believers to respond to these tumultuous circumstances? In II Timothy 1:7 Paul offers the solution: "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." We are not to anxiously cower in a corner but we are to employ the power of the Holy Spirit within us to reach out to the lost and fearful among us with the unchanging message of salvation through Jesus Christ and with the assurance that ultimately, He will conquer all evil!