The Slavery of Fear

ST.  JUDE  SIDE  CHAPEL  |  ST.  PATRICK'S  CATHEDRAL

10.30.17

I got stopped dead in my tracks this morning while listening to this line from the First Reading {Romans 8:15}:

 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into...” 

...and just as my brain tried to autocorrect the last word to “sin,” I heard a different word proclaimed, the very word my soul drags around like a weight just as heavy as sin: “fear.” 


This verse, as you might know if you recognize it, goes on to tell us about our spirit of adoption in God. The one that invites—no, compels—us to call Him Abba. Daddy. 

And words of the Bethel Music hymn ripped through me—

I’m no longer a slave to fear // I am a child of God 

I could almost hear God’s gentle chuckle. Because no matter how often I circle around it, no matter how much I stretch my spirit, no matter how hard I try and fail to wrap my mind around this Father-daughter relationship, He is lovingly, patiently, relentless in bringing me the hardest and best lesson as often as needed:

Be not afraid, daughter. You are Mine.