IS YOUR FAITH BEING DISABLED BY PUBLIC OPINION?

It can happen, unless we keep our focus on Jesus Christ and His Word—He is the Word.

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES             by Sally Bair

Fear versus trust

At one time, statistics showed that the chances of remarrying after divorce were slim. They also stated chances were slim that if someone did remarry, they’d divorce again. I proved them wrong, as have many others.

Speaking of statistics, my chances of getting cancer or heart disease are something like thirty-three percent. Even the probability of my house being robbed has risen. And now I learn that I should have at least a million dollars or more to retire comfortably.

We can find statistics for just about everything. Companies often use them to their advantage so their products will sell. How much stock should we take in statistics? What do they mean to us individually?

Proverbs 29:25 tells us, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” God speaks against fear of any kind throughout the Bible. The opposite of fear is trust. Corporate America would have us believe that we must trust their products or services rather than anyone else’s.

When we start trusting in statistics rather than in God, the One who is able to bring anything about, it shows we distrust Him. Distrust, unbelief, doubt—by whatever name, it tends to disable our faith in God.

Remember the scare about cell-phone use causing brain cancer? A single report started a wave of terror that reportedly caused the stock of Motorola to drop twenty percent in a week. And what are our chances of developing brain cancer? Maybe six in 100,000 per year. It seems to me the chances of dying of heart disease, caused by the stress of worrying about dying of brain cancer, are much greater.

We may find it easy to fall into the trap of unbelief. I struggle with it along with the rest of you. It’s hard not to when we’re surrounded on all sides by so many claims and opinions.

We have no guarantees in life except that we’ll all die sometime. Meanwhile, let’s not allow opinion and statistics to undermine our trust in God. Opinions and statistics change as fast as the wind blows. God never changes. We can rely on His promise to protect us from fear, when we put our trust in Him alone. It will enable us, not disable us.           

Lord, strengthen our faith in You so we won’t become disabled by the fear of any opinion or statistic that confronts us. Give us common sense to know which opinions to heed and which to ignore. Thank You for protecting us from disabling fear. In Jesus’ name, amen.