Isn’t it fascinating watching how people react to crisis?
On the one hand there are those who panic, who on hearing of a swine flu outbreak write alarming columns in newspapers about potential pandemic, or close schools and ban the import of pork based on a few people getting sick, or feed their fears by reading and watching every last detail and statistic on the flu’s spread.
On the other hand, there are those “in the know” who tell us to calm down, there’s nothing to be afraid of, we’ve got the know-how to stop things getting out of hand, and scientific fact proves this latest outbreak is out-of-season and therefore short-lived and no more dangerous than any other typical flu. Yes, they say, people are dying but multiple thousands die every year from flu, so let’s not make this another “Cry, wolf!” situation denying the tourist and farming industries billions of dollars unnecessarily.
There are two clear and opposite reactions, which on the surface appear to be a clear split between the fearful and the non-fearful, but in reality both groups are panicking. One group is stirred by raw fear when faced with potential death, but the other group is fearful, too – they’re fearful of those who are fearful, because we all know what happens if fear takes hold. It hits the economy. People baton down hatches, stay home, stop buying, and that creates panic in those responsible for keeping the economy functioning. Both reactions, therefore, are stirred by fear.
But that’s the world we live in. We are never far away from a crisis, and we all know by now it’s only a matter of time before the next financial meltdown happens, or the next killer disease sprouts. And since crisis always creates fear, we live on a knife edge all the time. Fear is a constant pandemic; it never goes away.
Paul did tell us this would happen, though, that there’s a “spirit” in this world that makes us “slaves to fear (Romans 8:15).” Politicians are well aware of it, too. They know how easily scared we are and how pervasive and damaging fear is, so they talk soothingly of signs that the flu and the global meltdown are bottoming out, that things are on the “up and up” and the crisis will be all over soon. But anyone with his eyes open can see what they’re doing. They must stop fear taking hold. It’s a pity, therefore, that they don’t turn to Paul’s solution to fear. Which is? “Receiving the Spirit of sonship (verse 15).” Imagine a politician talking about that!
Filed under: A life free of fear
