Let Faith, Not Fear, Rule My Heart

In Mark 10:48 it says, “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (GNT)

If I’m to make a fresh start with my life, then I need to face my fears, and not let them control me! Fear has an incredible ability to paralyze potential and keep me from launching out and having faith in my life.

When I choose fear over faith, it makes me skeptical—afraid of trying anything new. It makes me selfish—afraid to commit to God and to others. It makes me short-sighted— focusing on the past and not on the future.

A man named Bartimaeus faced a fear that is familiar to many of us: the fear of rejection. He was blind and wanted to be healed. He knew that to shout out to Jesus over the crowd wasn’t the right thing to do. He knew that people would look down on him for it, but he was desperate. And he knew that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help him.

So he got Jesus’ attention. The Bible says, “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:48 GNT).

And look what happened: When he shouted out to Jesus, everyone around him told him, “Don’t do that. Be quiet. Don’t make a scene. Surely Jesus Christ isn’t interested in you. He has more important things to do.”

The devil whispers things like that to a lot of us. When an opportunity for faith comes into our hearts, thoughts like, “God surely wouldn’t be interested in me” or “Don’t make a scene” or “What would people think of me?” keep us from having faith. When I see an opportunity to change, there are all kinds of shouts from inside and around me that tell me not to rock the boat.

But God is asking me to do something greater than I’ve ever done before: He’s asking me to depend on him completely. This is going to feel a little bit scary.

When God asks something of me, I have a choice. Am I going to fall back on my fear and stay the way I am? Or am I going to tame my fear and step forward in faith?

I need to consider whose disapproval I fear the most. Why would I think that it seems easier to choose fear over faith? Proverbs 29:25 reminds me, “The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that” (MSG). I need to ask God to help me trust in him to protect me from what other people think.