Substituting Faith for Fear Changes the World

From the Desk of Chuck Fuller, CEO, The Results Company

 
“The cross is evidence that in the hands of the Redeemer, moments of apparent defeat become wonderful moments of grace and victory.” (Paul David Tripp, “New Morning Mercies”)
 
Thank you for granting me the privilege of sharing with you what’s on my mind this Easter holiday. Every Saturday, we use this space to offer you a deeper look at an issue that, one way or another, impacts you as a business leader.
 
But I find it helpful – even cathartic – to break that cycle every so often to share something personal to me. Whatever religion you practice, or whatever views you hold, I hope this Easter message offers something personal to you, too.
 
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Regular readers know by now to expect from me some combination of history and personal morality whenever I occupy this space.
 
Indeed, history turns time and again on the potent combination of fear – especially fear of violence – and faith in overcoming it. We should never underestimate what God can accomplish through us when we defeat fear and obey Him in faith.
 
Rick Warren tells the story of the Israelites in his book, “Daily Hope”:
 
When Moses sent spies to scope out the Promised Land, ten of the twelve came back and said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13:31, NIV). Even though God had promised to be with them, they responded in fear rather than faith. Only Joshua and Caleb believed God’s promise that they could take possession of the land.
 
A vision based on fear rather than faith is going to limit you for your entire life. You’re going to miss opportunities. You’re going to waste the talent that God gave you. And you’re going to set yourself up for defeat, because fear creates self-fulfilling prophecies.
 
The spies with fear-based vision saw themselves as inadequate. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size…. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:32-33, NIV).
 
There really were giants in the Promised Land! They caused some of the Israelites to see themselves as tiny bugs sure to get squashed. That’s a defeating self-image. It didn’t affect just the spies’ confidence; it also caused them to project their fears on others. That’s the problem with a fear-based vision: The way you see yourself and life will rub off on the people around you.
 
If the spies had looked at the Promised Land with faith instead of fear, they would have seen the same thing Joshua and Caleb did: a land flowing with milk and honey. Even when they looked at the giants, Joshua and Caleb saw their potential through God’s eyes. They said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30, NIV).
 
The American Patriots, 250 years ago, also grappled with centering a vision based on faith, not fear. It gave them the strength to endure hardships and extreme violence, as they saw the opportunity freedom could bring. The following is from Ken Burns’ PBS Series, The American Revolution, Episode 3. If you have not yet watched this amazing documentary, it is worth your time.
 
By the summer of 1776, the Revolution, which began as a quarrel over the rights of British subjects, had become a war for American independence, and as that revolution spread throughout the colonies, thousands of Americans, patriots and Loyalists alike, would be driven from their homes.
 
I think that we really do a disservice to. . . history and to the experiences of the people who lived through it when we paper over the violence of the American Revolution with this set of very idealized images that we have of the Founding Fathers signing documents in Philadelphia. The United States came out of violence.
 
Burns quotes letters from two Patriots who serve as stand-ins for the fear and faith exemplified by thousands of others.
 
Philip Vickers Fithian, of Cohansey, NJ, wrote to his wife in 1776: “It is hard to be quite happy when one full half, at least, of both body and soul is left at home, but, believe it, I am not more mortal here in the neighborhood of the British cannon than I should be was I happy in your peaceful, loving arms. Till my God calls me, I am immortal.” Vickers would die shortly thereafter of dysentery.
 
And Betsy Ambler, of Yorktown, VA, wrote to her sister after the war: “Instead of morning lessons, we were to knit stockings; instead of embroidering, to make homespun garments; and in place of the music of the harpsichord, to listen to the loud, clanging trumpet and never-ceasing drum, for in every direction that we traveled – and heaven knows we left but little of Virginia unexplored – we heard naught but the din of war. Our late peaceful country now became a scene of terror and confusion.”
 
Finally, and fittingly for this Easter message, Jesus offers history’s best example of faith over fear. The following comes from my morning devotional, “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Tripp.
 
The cross was not the end of the story! In God’s righteous and wise plan, this dark and disastrous moment was ordained to be the moment that would fix all the dark and disastrous things that sin had done to the world. The moment of death was at the same time a moment of life. This hopeless moment was the moment when eternal hope was given. . .
 
The same God who planned that the worst thing would be the best thing is your Father. He rules over every moment in your life, and in powerful grace he is able to do for you just what he did in redemptive history. He takes the disasters of your life and makes them tools of redemption. . .
 
So be careful how you make sense of your life. What looks like a disaster may in fact be grace. What looks like the end may be the beginning.
 
During times of reflection on Jesus’ time on earth, I see myself as Matthew, or Levi, who was a tax collector before becoming an apostle, characterized by transformation, meticulous organization, and a willingness to give up wealth for faith. Or could I have been a Roman guard who nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross?

But what truly matters is how I manage my life today. Will I be everything God has planned for me? Will I live with purpose, selflessness, and meaning? Will I love my wife and family with all my heart? Will I run my business with integrity and honesty? Will I love my neighbor as myself?
 
Each answer is, in some way, a battle between fear and faith. This Easter weekend is a chance for us to slow down, reflect, and ponder these things. The Israelites seized their promised land by looking beyond the obstacles with a vision rooted in faith, not fear. The Patriots created a new nation in much the same way the Israelites did. And in Jesus, we see that out of violence came freedom that changed the world.
 
I’ll finish with Rick Warren’s final sentence from the message above: “Never underestimate what God can do through you when you obey him in faith. Whatever He has called you to do, you can certainly accomplish in His strength.”
 
May your Easter be a time of great peace, grace, and thankfulness.
 
With much admiration and appreciation,

Charles F. Fuller
CEO, The Results Company