FEAR OF WITNESSING

To overcome the fear we all experience when considering approaching someone with the gospel, we need to have a conviction that God has given us something to say that our audience needs desperately to hear. Such a conviction will free us from fear.

For example, consider a person walking down a street who notices a meeting of a large group of people inside a building. Then he sees a fire in the upper part of the building where the meeting is being held. He would immediately run in and tell the people to get out. And there would be no fearful thoughts and hesitation. Why? Because he knows that they needed to hear what he had to say. How convinced are we that people need to hear a word from God?504

Have you ever had to paint a second or third story of a house? You get about halfway up that double or triple extension ladder and it begins to bend and bounce with your every movement. Then you start wondering about the ladder and its footing and where you will end up when it crashes to the earth so far below you. So, in fear and terror, you stop where you are and cling to the ladder, looking neither up nor down.

Eventually you realize that you must paint the house and that you can’t reach it from where you are. So, mustering up all your courage and recalling that you have never seen such a ladder fall over, you conquer the next rung and inch your way to the next, then the next. Finally you reach the top of the ladder and cling to it for your life. Now that you’ve arrived, you ask yourself how you can take one hand off the ladder to use the paintbrush and not plummet to the earth below. But you do. You begin. After a bit of scraping, the wood soaks up the paint. You whistle and admire the fine job you are doing. Soon the terror is forgotten.

You’ve learned an important lesson of life from this. No matter what high responsibility you take on, it’s scary, very scary—until you start working.505

LeRoy Eims told of an event which he and his son, Randy, witnessed in Istanbul, Turkey. They were sitting in a restaurant and looked out the window in surprise and unbelief at a huge brown bear, muzzled and on a leash. When a crowd of people had gathered, the bear’s owner shook a tambourine, and immediately the bear stood up on its hind legs and began to dance around. Then, on command, the bear lay on its back and rolled from side to side. As the crowd applauded in appreciation, the tambourine became a collection plate. Suddenly a small, mangy, mongrel dog came leaping out from behind the bushes and began barking at the bear. But the mighty bear, which should have been able to dispatch the dog with one swipe of its powerful paw, was both helpless and terrified and bounded around, trying to dart away to find a place to hide.

What was the problem? Why was this magnificent wild beast afraid of a scruffy little dog? There were two reasons—the bear was both muzzled and declawed. It was a pathetic sight, but what made it even more sad was that it was a picture of so many Christians: muzzled, for they feel unable to speak, and weaponless, for they are unable to use the Sword of the Spirit. As a result, we, like that bear, often find ourselves helpless and fearful as if under siege, whenever we attempt to share our faith.506