Stop living in fear

If you read last week's column you would know that I pleaded to you to re-examine your life and the choices you are making, to look at your belief system and start asking questions on how you feel about the truth of  Jesus. To think about how he died on the cross for our sins and how he was raised from the dead, conquering sin so that we may have freedom in him.

After writing about that last week, there is no greater spectacle I could give, no more words of flattery I could say that could even compare to what was said last week. I have no more material up my sleeve.

The only thing I have to say is why do we wait? Why do we wait to make the most important decisions in our lives, mainly on whether we believe, or even on smaller scales whether or not to date, to make a move, to apply for that job offer or internship or even to apply to school? Why? The only answer I have found is that every time we wait is most likely because we are scared.

We have been running scared our entire lives, constantly afraid that we will not be good enough if we try. We are afraid we will not be what people want if we open up. So, we close ourselves off. We don't open up to others. We stay away from that one person we know we could be great with and we wait, another day to decide how we feel about life and God.

We've had this belief of fear in us since we were small children. For me I was so scared of not sleeping in my room alone as a small child. I would do everything I could to get out of being alone in my room at night, from getting twelve cups of water throughout the night, somehow trying to be interested in the nightly news as a 5-year-old or sometimes even just going into my brother's room and laying on the floor with my dog because I thought I saw his heart stop beating.

Oh yes, I was inventive and now that I look back, probably a little screwed up, (that was a joke, insert laughter here). I gave myself so many excuses that it practically became a reflex. We do it every day. We fill our bodies with junk food, probably because it feels good but also because we are too afraid that if we actually cared, if we actually treated ourselves like we should, we still wouldn't be enough at the end of the day. The fear of failure pounds in our chest like a drum, so loud that we can't even hear the chimes of truth and freedom ringing in our ears. We must break free from these fears that cling to us. We must force our ears to hear the chiming of truth and drown out the clanging of fear. We must stop running and being afraid and start living.

Stop letting fear consume you and start making the choices you've been wanting to all along. This is a short life, so don't let fear destroy you but rather break these ties that bind you and run in confidence. It's time to start living.

Contact Krysalea Burns at burns116@marshall.edu.