Fear: Turning Retreat Into Advance

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

What are you afraid of?

Everybody fears. Even if we don’t admit it to others, there’s something we fear. It’s a thing we humans do. The list of our most common fears is relatively short: failure, success, dying, commitment or intimacy, spiders, flying, public speaking, heights, the dark, rejection. The full list is, of course, endless. And our reactions tend to be the same: fight or flight—or freeze. 

In 1933, at the worst point in the Great Depression, U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (“FDR”) told the people: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." 

The Great Depression was a long time ago. But we still fear. And we still need to find a way to convert retreat into advance. I’m not offering a direct cure for fear, but I do know how we should regard our fears: We need to recognize that the more we focus on our fears the greater their power over us. 

That recognition is the first step away from “retreat.”

In this week's 1 Peter selection, he tells believers how to deal with the distresses in their lives. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Peter exhorts us to “not fear what they fear." He means we should not fear the same things, in the same way, as nonbelievers. But how?

The answer lies in our focus.

Isaiah told his readers to focus on God rather than fear what "they" fear. Peter applies that same focus to Jesus. These two are not saying we’re not going to fear. Rather, that we need to shift our focus, our attention, our concentration—to God.

Throughout scripture, we are told to place God first. It's the first of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. Jesus declared it the greatest commandment. Nothing and no one should be positioned ahead of God. It’s no surprise, then, that God must also be placed ahead of our fears. 

We need not pretend to be fearless. When faced with what we fear, we need to focus on God. 

That’s how we turn retreat into advance. 

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00 and run for about an hour. The food is tasty and the company is relaxed. We enjoy reading and discussing the scripture, and finding how it applies to our real lives. Find us on Zoom* or in the function room at Our Breakfast Place. 

Blessings,

Steve

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

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SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here

Print them here

Acts 17:22-31

Psalm 66:8-20

1 Peter 3:13-22

John 14:15-21

Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 10, 2026)