Everybody’s afraid of something, and that’s not always bad. Fear of falling keeps us away from the edge of a cliff. Fear of wrecking (or getting a fine) stops us from ignoring a red light.
The last eleven months have sparked fear in the world in which we live.
Fear of a virus.
Fear of politics.
Fear of one another.
Fear of the unknown.
But when fear drives how you lead, your ability to lead will suffer. Here’s what I mean.
Read MoreHave we ever lived in more anxious times than these?
First the pandemic kept us at home and filled us with fear as we watched the daily rising death toll, reported grimly from every media outlet. Instant homeschooling, isolation from loved ones, improvised home offices, or (worse) lost jobs created tensions that persist.
And then came riots in the streets of neighborhoods nationwide: burning, looting, hatred shouted by both blacks and whites. Even my suburban black friends often don’t feel safe taking a walk or driving through their own neighborhoods. And, if you’re like me, you may wrestle with what to say and how and when to say it in order not to foster controversy.
If any of this creates anxiety for you, you’re not alone. I thought about that last week as my daily Bible reading plan pointed me to 1 Peter 5:5-9. (I knew God had something for me to learn when the devotion I read that morning, unrelated to my reading schedule, “coincidentally” quoted the same verses!)
Here we discover God’s ways for dealing with anxiety, something the persecuted Christians receiving Peter’s lesson needed to hear. We need to ponder it too.
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