“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).
Fear is a sobering commonality of the human experience. We all know what it is to be afraid, to be anxious over things we can’t control and to fear those who might have power to hurt us. Fear is a direct result of sin—it’s one of the first behaviors Adam and Eve demonstrated after they broke their perfect relationship with God. It’s a cruel master, limiting what we can do and never letting us go.
But in Christ, that fear is no more. When He died, He delivered us from every consequence of sin, including fear. There is no longer anything that has authority over us save God alone. He rules our lives, and He lets nothing touch His servants except that which He has chosen. And because we know that God works all things for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28), there is nothing left to make us afraid. Even terrible things have been sifted through the careful hands of our loving Father.
That’s another incredible thing Christ has done for us. When we accept Him as our Savior and the Lord of our lives, He doesn’t just become our new master. He becomes our Father. He adopts us into His family and makes us His own beloved children. Not only are we set free from the power of fear, but we can also come boldly before God, approaching Him with startling intimacy.
Paul has spent the first seven chapters of Romans explaining just how horrible humanity’s situation is. We are separated from God, hopelessly so, and we are no less than His enemies. But now, through the incredible gift of Christ’s own life, we can become God’s children.
We should be more afraid of God than of anything else, but God invites us to know Him as our Father.
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