You know how it is. You are faced with a choice between what you know is the right thing to do and doing nothing. Usually doing the right thing is more difficult, more challenging, more likely to cause us to be uncomfortable. So… you do nothing. And you regret it. Then you try make up for it later, to compensate for your lack of action by putting on a big showy version of what you should’ve done originally only to feel like it is useless, futile. Don’t feel alone. It happens to us all. Even in the Bible.
There’s a Little Nicodemus in All of Us
“After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.”
~ John 14:38-42
Nicodemus wanted to follow Jesus, but he was afraid. He met with Jesus in secret to learn more about Him, to get to know Him. But to the world he was a powerful religious leader of the same that had Jesus crucified. Instead of speaking up when his fellow leaders were plotting the arrest and murder of Jesus, he let fear creep in and he froze. Can we blame him? Would we act any differently? I would say most of us would do exactly the same thing. When faced with the difficult decision of stepping out of our comfort zone to speak up for someone else, we would freeze. Fear paralyzes us. We would do nothing.
Then afterwards we’d feel guilty. We’d regret it. We’d wish we’d said something. What did Nicodemus do? He brought some ointment for Jesus’ burial, and not just a flask or a bottle, but 100 pounds of it! That’s what I call overcompensating. Was it worth it? Wouldn’t it have been better to have just said something in the first place and prevented all of this from happening?
What is Fear Keeping You From?
We all have goals, dreams, missions. But fear is setting up camp on the only path that leads to our achieving them. What is fear keeping you from? Perhaps you want to tell people about how God has transformed your life, but you are afraid. Maybe you want to ask a favor of someone, but you are afraid of rejection. You want to ask for a raise or a promotion or even start your own business. Or maybe you want to say “yes” to God and mean it. Don’t let fear get the best of you. Because it’s actually the best of you that comes out when you face fear dead on and show it who’s boss.