Fear is a normal, God-given emotion. God intended fear to keep us alive as our amygdala initiates the fight or flight response to what our brain interprets as a dangerous threat. I imagine this is why angels begin their messages with, “Fear not,” when they appear to people in the Bible. They want to engage the person’s prefrontal cortex to stop him/her from fighting them or running away.

So if God created us to feel fear, then why are there so many commands to not be afraid or anxious but instead to take heart or be courageous? When does our healthy, normal fear become unhealthy?

If we take a look at a “Feelings Wheel,” we see fearfulness broken down into a variety of other emotions, such as anxious, threatened, or insecure and even further still to feeling inadequate, helpless, or overwhelmed. No matter what form of fear we experience, we are not meant to stay there or allow it to rule us (unless, of course, a wild animal is coming at us…then we better fight or run!).

As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, I fear not being good enough. Now this can be healthy in a way that spurs me to do my best, but it quickly becomes unhealthy when I find myself paralyzed to inaction for fear of not getting something right. That fear turns to feelings of inadequacy and anxiety which then leads to feeling helpless and overwhelmed. See how that normal emotion just snowballed into an unhealthy mess?

When this happens, I open God’s Word to passages that remind me I no longer have to fear not being good enough. I have been made right with God through Jesus’ sacrifice (Romans 5) and am no longer enslaved to sin but righteousness (Romans 6). I have received the Spirit, making me a child of God so I can cry out to Him as my Abba, Father, and stand secure that nothing will ever separate me from His love (Romans 8). The mess of emotions my fear causes is combatted with the Truth. I just have to engage my prefrontal cortex so my amygdala (or fear) doesn’t rule me.