Sometimes, when we become overwhelmed, we allow fear to control us. Instead, we should choose to have faith in Jesus Christ so he can dispel our fears.
Photo by John Towner
Has the prospect of needing to change ever paralyzed you and kept you from moving forward? If so, you’re not alone. In Gregory Clark’s BYU devotional, “Some Lessons on Faith and Fear,” he says, “Essentially, when I am living in faith, I don’t fear change, or changing myself, for the better. But when I am living in fear, I find change and changing—for the better, at least—almost impossible.” To help us choose faith and change for the better, Clark teaches two important lessons:
Lesson 1: Fear Works Against Faith
Fear can work to weaken our faith. In his speech, Clark notes that when he is full of faith, he is happy and confident, but when he is full of fear, he is anxious and often doesn’t feel capable of dealing with day-to-day challenges. Clark says that fear comes because we feel that we must solve all of our challenges on our own. However, this is not the case—we can choose to have faith in Jesus Christ and rely on his strength to expand our talents and resources to match the obstacles in front of us.
Lesson 2: How to Daily Choose Faith Over Fear
Choosing faith over fear is a daily process. According to Clark, for him “this life is beginning to boil down to an ongoing choice between faith and fear.” Consistently using our agency to choose faith helps us overcome fear. However, in order to choose faith we must be humble. As Clark observes, “Like faith and fear, humility is also a choice. It is an ongoing choice to be made every moment of every day.” If we humbly turn to and trust in the Lord to strengthen our faith, we will be able to find the strength to move forward amidst change in our lives.
Discover more lessons in Gregory Clark’s speech, “Some Lessons on Faith and Fear.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Auburn Wilcox, Latter-Day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY KRISTOPHER ROLLER
Find more insights
Read more about living by faith in Elder Quentin L. Cook’s article “Live by Faith and Not by Fear.”
Learn more about dispelling fear in Jillian Argento’s article “A Framework to Forget Fear.”