You. God has said, never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13, verses five and six. Sometimes we do things because we are afraid. For example, if we are afraid that we might die of a heart attack, we might stop eating so many Little Debbie snack cakes and start going to the gym three times a day to up our chances of not developing heart disease. On the other hand, sometimes we don't do things because we are afraid of what might happen if we do. If we are afraid that a certain decision might make someone angry, we might not make that decision even if it is the absolute right thing for us to do in the long run. The truth is, we are afraid of a lot of things in life. We are afraid we might run out of money. We're afraid we might get cancer. We're afraid that loved ones might die. We're afraid that we could lose our house in a fire or a flood or a tornado. The list goes on and on. Much of the time, our fears are irrational and unwarranted, even when they aren't. Fear needs to be kept in check by faith. After all, God has promised that he will not leave us or forsake us, and believing Him allows us to do things without fear. But what if we make a mistake? What if we make a decision that turns out to be less than perfect? Well, believing God means that we accept the fact that he is bigger than any of our mistakes and that even if we make a mistake, he is able to fix whatever harm may be caused. This doesn't mean that we can just go through life doing whatever we please with no regard for what is right or wrong or no regard for the consequences of bad choices. We need to use our heads and our hearts when making decisions. We need to think clearly and to be sensitive to the feelings and the needs of others. But when we have carefully and prayerfully, looked at all the facts, listened to Godly counsel, we can make decisions and live life with confidence and without paralyzing fear. We don't have to be paralyzed by fear as long as we are confident that the Lord is with us and is leading the way.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected]. Have a great day and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the.