The Fear Factor

Theme Verse: Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. (NKJV)

Fear is something we all have in common; each person is afraid of something. There are four psychological reasons why we in so many ways fear the wrong things and fear unlikely events. The first reason is we fear what our ancestral history has prepared us to worry about. For example, someone may fear spiders because of a story they heard or a movie they watched. Another reason, we fear what we can't control. One example of this is a graduating senior who may be afraid to go to college because he or she is leaving home for the first time. As humans, we fear the unknown, and people generally want to stay with what they know.

The third reason is people fear what is immediate. People put so much fear into stuff that seems immediate or not as scary. For instance, the dangers of flying, people mostly focus on the moments of takeoff and landing. Compared to the risks of driving, which has a lot more uncertainty to it. Finally, thanks to the availability heuristic, we fear what is most readily available in memory. For example, shark attacks kill about one American per year, while heart disease kills 800,000 – but it's much easier to visualize a shark bite. Thus many people fear sharks more than heart disease (Myers, 2015).

These four psychological reasons reveal a lot of information about fear. Mainly the second reason for fear of what we can't control. There are many things we can't control, like the future or the weather. And when people can't control something, people will start to fear it. This is something Christians struggle with as well, especially when God calls certain Christians to do something. Rather, if it's being a missionary or doing something in the local community, Christians have the challenge of overcoming that fear and not giving in to that fear.

At the basic level, fear guides our fight or flight responses. It helps keep us safe and alive. Fear also heightens one's senses and awareness; it keeps a person alert and allows people to prepare better (Muguku, 2020). The Bible says whenever we feel afraid that we should pray and put our trust in God (Psalms 56:3). To guard ourselves against fear, people must first remember that it's okay to be afraid to do something. But as Christians, we should overcome that fear and remember that God is with us in all that we do. In conclusion, fear can be a bad thing or a good thing. It all comes down to how we choose to respond to it.