Have You Chosen Victory Over Fear?

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. (Hebrews 2:14–15 NLT)

I knew from the age of twenty-eight that I might die the way my mother did. An ultrasound confirmed the hereditary kidney disease that had taken her, her sisters, and her mother far too young. That day I began to understand what it means to live in fear of dying, something most twenty-somethings don’t have any business understanding.

Our hearts sometimes can’t hear our heads through the fog of fear. Though my head knew that medical science had progressed in those years since my mother’s death, my heart knew only its own experience. If I died at the same age she had—fifty—I would leave a youngest child the same age her youngest child had been when she died. That child was me.

After a successful kidney transplant, I decided to do what any rational person would do—take our family on a surprise, first-time trip to Disney. I was alive, and we were celebrating. And the day I passed the age she died, that curtain of fear fell away for me.

Occasionally someone asks why I have such a passion for travel, why I long to see all there is to see and do all the crazy things I can find to do. The answer is that, for me, it’s a kind of victory lap. Fear and death did not win.

Jesus’s victory over death and fear of death means that in some way we should all be living in that victory lap. We should all be belting out a breathless hallelujah, astonished at what he has done.

I believe C. S. Lewis got cross theology more right than most theologians do in his book The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. When Aslan (God) returns to life after the White Witch (Satan) kills him, he tells his people what the writer of Hebrews communicates about the cross in chapter 2, verses 14–15 (see above). The lion says about the White Witch,

If she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.

Satan isn’t all-knowing, and he didn’t know that a perfect, self-sacrifice of an innocent human life (precisely why the writer says Jesus had to be human) would turn death backward and destroy it.

But Jesus did. He knew the joy before him—the victory after the sacrifice.

Maybe you’re not afraid of death. How many of us, however, are afraid of daily, small deaths? Do we hold back, refuse to risk, not follow him all the way to sacrifice because we’re afraid of the little deaths we have to die? Death of our time, our agendas, our success, our comfort, our routines, our bank accounts, our plans for our lives?

I would never have made it to the victory lap I’ve enjoyed running without facing the possibility of an early death. I wouldn’t have understood enough about the cost and blessing. So without the death of things we want to control, we can never realize the joy that comes into our lives after the sacrifice.

The cross means sacrifice. There’s no way of getting around that. No one gets to the victory lap on Sunday without going through the sacrifice and death on Friday. We don’t sing “Victory in Jesus” until we’ve sung “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” When we try, we cheapen what Christ did and fail to live in his victory. We settle for a cheap plastic trophy instead of an all-surpassing peace in fear.

I’m grateful to be running in victory over fear. Sometimes it even feels like flying.

God, help me to choose peace over comfort, joy over status quo, life over death. Thank you that I don’t need to live in fear of any death, large or small. Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

We [run the race] by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:2 NLT)

Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:1–2 NLT)

Sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. (1 Corinthians 15:56–58 NLT)

Reach for More

Do you know you have to experience a small death, something God wants you to sacrifice before you can move into victory? What steps can you outline to make that happen? Imagine the joy that will be released in you right now.

Jill Richardson is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.

Photograph © Julia Caesar, used with permission