How Dr. King and the apostle Paul faced the prospect of death

My husband and I were fortunate to spend this past week on Maui with friends. One of our excursions for the week involved ziplining across the mountain ridges in the high country. I’ve never ziplined before and I find as I grow older that I have an increasing fear of heights. I was not sure what my reaction would be when it came time and I knew that one run was over 600 ft high above a valley and another three-quarters of a mile long. We were given our instructions and strapped and buckled into the harnesses. The trial run was a breeze, although when I hit the braking device at the far end I was startled at the jolt and the clap from the contact of my harness carriage with the brake.

We hiked up to our first line, which stretched from one ridge to the next across a wide valley. This was the second to the longest of our seven runs. You could see planes coming in for a landing in the valley below us. The guide threw my carriage over the line, hooked the straps to my harness carabiners and it was time to go. I said a little prayer, wished I’d taken my diet a more seriously and decided to trust the equipment and our guides. The young man assisting asked if I was ready, unhooked me from the safety tether, and I was off, flying through the air high over the treetops. It was exhilarating and over much too soon. I reached the other platform and touched the ground with only a slight tremble in my knees.

My little encounter with the fear of death over for the moment, I was proud of myself for not letting fear hold me back. Of course, this was nothing like Paul and Dr. King were facing as they lived out their faith and proclaimed their message under a real threat of death. I would imagine we can all name a place or a situation in our lives when fear has kept us from moving forward. I love the verse that Paul uses a few chapters earlier to encourage the young evangelist Timothy, who he mentored and was encouraging to carry on his ministry. In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Fear on one level or another is something that we all deal with. The question becomes, is that what God desires for us, to live in a spirit of fear?

Fear is one of the tools Satan uses to keep us from doing things we are destined to do! I think this dark emotion rules the lives of WAY too many people, and I’m guessing there are some of you who, like me, wrestle sometimes with fear. Fear can keep us from living fully into our calling. There are a lot of things that can cause fear to well up inside of us, but as 1 John 4:4 reminds us, what do we have to fear? “Little children, you are from God and have overcome [the evil one], for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

So let me ask you a question: what are you afraid of? What is fear keeping you from doing? Where is it coming from? I am not talking about ziplining or skydiving now. Are you afraid of rejection? Is your fear of failure or commitment holding you back? God does not give us a spirit of fear! We need to remember who we serve! To remember who our God is and to follow his instructions, and trust our guide and equipment!