“In order to be truly free, you have to overcome the love of wealth and the fear of death”
Martin Luther King
Controlled By Emotion
Fear is rampant. It is overwhelming at this time. If you think about what the title of this post is saying, it’s that if you are afraid to die and too scared to live, fear is in control. An emotion is controlling our lives. If we are caught in this situation, we are in limbo. Aimless. No goal and no purpose. Zombie walking.
I chose this picture because it depicts two paths and one path is more difficult and the other is an easier road with no obstacles and no challenges. No opportunities to confront our fear and grow our faith. If we are being honest with ourselves we can look at this picture above and get an idea which path we are on at this moment in time. We can ask ourselves, “Am I on a path that has obstacles or that challenges or grows my faith? Am I on a path that leads to a truer more confident and bold version of me, an authentic version? Am I choosing to avoid opportunities for growth because I prefer to be on an easy path?”
What does it mean to be pursuing a path of authenticity. My book series is focused on the discovery of the “Authentic Self”, but what exactly does that mean?
Well our “Authentic Self” is the person or self that God had in mind when he created you. It is the person you were meant to be, doing the tasks you were meant to do, using the talents and skills you were designed to use, with the love you were meant to share.
Back to fear and emotion.
Being an emergency room physician during this pandemic, one thing that got my attention was the terror in the eyes of people who were waiting for the results of their Covid tests. The variability in reactions was so amazing that I spent most of last spring and summer studying and researching fear and anxiety. The months I spent on the topic culminated in my book, Challenge Your Fear, Empower Your Spirit. It is the third book in the authentic self series and its available right now for .99 on Amazon. Link is at the end of the post.
The question that sparked all of this research was “Why are some people so calm when they received a positive Covid test and some people burst into tears overwhelmed by fear?
They would often ask questions like, “Should I change my diet? What medication can I take? Aren’t there some vitamins or supplements available to help me?” The variability in the fear response is amazing and fascinating to witness. It made me think about the people around me and my own response to Covid.
I remember that I was telling my friends that I wasn’t afraid of Covid and I was seeing patients everyday who were Covid positive and some were very sick. Some were so sick that judging by their oxygen levels and their exam, I was pretty sure that they were going to die. I worked all through the summer of 2020 and the fall with no fear at all. It was stressful and exhausting, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. Then, in December of 2020, I got Covid. Three days before Christmas. There were no vaccines available at that time.
I had already heard of at least three emergency room doctors who were admitted to the hospital and one died after being in the ICU for a week on a ventilator. Now here was my test. Honestly for the most part, I wasn’t afraid, even when my own oxygen levels were dwindling. The one thing that made me uncomfortable was one episode when I was climbing some stairs with my mask on and I experienced shortness of breath so severe that I had “air hunger”. It was so intense I wanted to rip off my mask. That was a new experience for me. I had witnessed it a hundred times in severe asthmatics who are on oxygen and breathing treatments. They get so short of breath that they want to rip off their masks because their perception is that it is hindering their breathing instead of helping them. My mask was hindering my breathing but I fought the urge to take it off. That was a “this is real” moment for me.
Death and the “Self”
Our personal fear of death plays a prominent role when it comes to our sense of peace as we go about our lives. Some of that fear is clearly related to our faith and the strength of our convictions. Just recently I came across an article about the fear of death and it was interesting to me what the researchers found was the most important idea when it came to the fear of death in the study subjects. The idea revolved around the “self”. (1)
A recent study at the Journal of Cognitive Science (entitled Death and the Self) revealed a direct link between our sense of “self” and our fear of death.
The research also revealed that Christians fear death far less than atheists, Hindus or Buddhists.
Why? It comes down to a concept described as the “continuity of self,” also defined as a belief in a “persisting self.” It’s the notion that who (and what) you are – your self – “is something that persists from childhood through old age. (You) exist to the extent that (your) self exists.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, if you believe your self has the capacity to transcend your mortal existence, you’re far less likely to fear the end of your mortal existence. The Death and the Self examined the way different worldviews define self, and the impact these definitions have on our fear of death:
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/afraid-to-die-youre-probably-not-a-christian/
This study and the idea of the “persisting self” really caught my attention because my book series is focused on the “Authentic Self”, as defined above.
When we have committed to the Christian faith, the idea of a persisting self is a secondary idea, something that we just take for granted. We don’t really even think about it. This is tied to the idea of ELPIS, the greek word for hope. This type of hope is biblical, Christ centered, resurrection-powered hope. It is defined as eager expectation of what is certain. This is the kind of “hope” that Paul refers to repeatedly in his epistles. It also happens to be a powerful antidote to fear and anxiety.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. (Titus 3:3-7 NIV)
https://bravethewave.org/2019/02/26/our-hope-is-different/
It is interesting but I am now working on my upcoming book on pain and suffering and the idea of being an heir as a child of God and brother or sister of Christ is a HUGE part of these ideas.
The Power of Hope
I want to focus on two elements of the above verse. “the hope of eternal life” and “this is a trustworthy saying”. Paul is speaking of the Greek word for hope. Elpis.
In my first book “Brave the Wave,” I used the analogy of going on a Caribbean cruise,
“I want to focus on hope here, because the hope he’s talking about has a different meaning. He’s thinking of hope in the way we discussed earlier. It’s eager expectation, not wishful thinking. It’s like when you book a vacation or a cruise. When you get to the airport, you have eager expectation. When we go on a cruise, the funniest thing to me are the smiles of people going through the check-in process. Everyone’s happy. You can’t wipe the smiles off their faces. Including mine. It’s elpis—eager expectation. When we’re checking in, we aren’t just wishfully thinking we’re going to board the ship; we have full and eager expectation of boarding“.
“Brave the Wave, Discover and Fully Realize Your Authentic Self”
Biblical hope is essential because we need it to cope. You need hope to cope with the challenges and trials that life throws at us every day. When you have biblical, Christ centered, resurrection powered hope, that is a different animal. That is a different way of thinking. You are transformed. (See Challenge Your Fear, Empower Your Spirit below.)
In my book Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power, I wrote about two people who faced death, a priest and a very wealthy hospice patient,
“ Let me go over an idea about comfort and discomfort to help us as we are going about trying to fulfill our purpose. Someone once told me a story about an elderly priest who was in the ICU. He was in his late eighties or early nineties and, because of his illness, knew he would die soon. The interesting part of the story was that he was being visited by another priest, and they were laughing and joking like they were waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. The priest who was dying even made a comment to his visitor, “Ha, I am going to see Jesus before you!!” And they both started laughing. They were both happy, almost joyous. The dying priest was at the end of his life, and he was at maximum comfort, on the verge of being in the presence of Jesus. He most likely spent the majority of his life being uncomfortable going about the business of doing God’s work.
Now we contrast that with a story that a hospice nurse shared with me. She told me about a very wealthy patient she was taking care of. She visited him on his yacht twice per week. Most of the time he had a team of advisors and family in the room while she checked his vital signs and examined him. One day he asked that everyone leave the room because he wanted to talk to her alone. She said that he called her over and told her, “Look, I have plenty of money. I can write a check for whatever you want. There must be some cure for my type of cancer that is not available to everyone. Just let me write you a check so that I can get better.” Thinking about those two scenarios made me realize something. The wealthy man was at maximum discomfort. He was on the edge of the unknown. He was doing everything he could to stay in his life of comfort, luxury, and ease. This life was the closest thing to heaven for him.
Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power
We should not be discouraged by trials, storms, and tribulations because they are the circumstances that God allows in our lives for our spiritual growth. Growth often comes through these means. If we can understand and embrace the idea that comfort is not part of God’s plan for our lives, it will be easier to handle all the difficulties we are inevitably going to face.
As a bonus, feelings of being uncomfortable or fearful when we are being asked to take on a task are a good sign that we are headed in the right direction. God wants our faith to grow. Untested faith is not very useful. Our faith will be tested. You can bet on that.
Looking at all these ideas of hope,fear of death and love of money made me realize that there is one thing worse than death, dying without a thriving, intimate relationship with Jesus. True Christians aren’t afraid of dying, they are afraid of dying without the love of Jesus in their hearts. True Christians are looking forward to seeing him face to face. They have peace because they trust in the promises of God and they believe Jesus when he tells us that he has prepared a wonderful place for us.
“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:2-3 NLT
A Toppling of Idols
One of the most reliable ways to measure the depth and strength of our relationship with Jesus is the automatic loss of interest in things of this world. We all have an altar and every one of us has things on the altar. It could be money, a celebrity, self destructive habits, objects or maybe ourselves.
When we grow in our relationship with Jesus, and we place him on the altar, it is almost an automatic or natural process that everything that we previously put on the altar gets toppled or knocked off. For me personally, I used to collect “things”. It doesn’t matter what they were, they had no eternal value. I haven’t bought one of those “things” in 15 years. Why? Because in my mind they have lost their value. They don’t mean anything.
That is related to the idea of replacement. When Jesus comes into your life, and you recognize his importance, everything else is less important. The world becomes less shiny. Less desirable. The thought of dying loses it’s taint of fear and dread because it is something we look forward to.
Looking forward to being in the presence of God and Jesus in a world of peace, joy, love and comfort with no pain and no suffering makes the suffering that we endure in this world seem less foreboding. When we reach this level of “knowing” and understanding, our fear diminishes and our joy, peace and love grow exponentially.
As a result, our fear of death diminishes. But what if we are too scared to live? That is the path on the left in the illustration of the two paths above. Many times we choose the easy comfortable path with the least amount of obstacles. If we as individuals think about our “authentic self”, the self that God had in mind when he created us, most likely that true, authentic version of us is found by choosing to confront our fear and go down the hard path with the obstacles and challenges. That path leads to a bolder more confident version of who we are at this point in time.
I do need your help though, if you are a fellow Christian believer and would like to help spread this message, please take the time to leave a review on one of my books. This is the only written review I have for my Challenge Your Fear book that has been on sale for 1 year.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2022
It is clear from the moment of the introduction that Challenge Your Fear Empower Your Spirit was written by a Christian for Christians, and there is plenty of helpful tips that do not involve faith.
One thing I have learned is that this is a huge war we are in as Christians. We are going to face ridicule, rejection and criticism, just like Jesus did. But we need to stick together and help each other.
What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.
(Luke 6:22- 23 NLT)
I’m not asking for money, I just ask that if you buy one of my books, please take 30 seconds of your time to leave a written review that can help to counter some of the anger and hatred that comes when anyone mentions Jesus.
Any help would definitely be appreciated!!
Here is a link to the Authentic Self series.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C8KNRFY?ref_=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tkin&binding=kindle_edition
(1) https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/afraid-to-die-youre-probably-not-a-christian/
If you are experiencing persistent symptoms of fatigue, body aches, shortness of breath or brain fog even months after a bout of Covid, you can learn more here,