Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Pet. 1:13
All the way through Scripture man’s fear, of death, adverse circumstances, financial hardship, and everything else that is threatening to our mortal lives isoften contrasted with faith and hope. Hebrews 11:1 tells us “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
In other words faith in God’s promises focuses our attention on the sure hope of eternal realities. We need this. Why? Because if we have no sure hope of God in Christ Jesus, we will be consumed and driven by fears of what may happen in this temporary life.
This kind of fear can distort our thinking, cause us to worry, become anxious (which is a sin, Phil. 4:6) and even cause us to make bad decisions. Such is the debilitating stranglehold of fear. But worst of all it is always bent on driving us away from God. Or as someone once said “fear that does not take you to God, will take you away from Him.”
So what is the remedy to this ungodly fear that can so easily kidnap us all, in one way or another? The answer is simple: set your hope on the Lord. This may sound too formulated but at the end of the day, fear of man and whatever else may happen on this earth simply proves our lack of faith in the Lord. Someone else explained it with this: “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.”
Let us be God’s people who, rather than allow our minds be captivated by fears, are those who have fixed minds and hearts on the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
Let me give you another quote from J. Piper. “ The presence of hope in the invincible sovereignty of God drives out fear.” [Grace Quotes]