Do Not Be Afraid

Mt. 28:18-20 

" And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Jesus was risen. What a glorious day! I imagine fear was in the hearts of those who saw Jesus, after all, He had been dead and was now risen. First there was fear in the hearts of the guards as the angel descended to the tomb to roll the stone away, an angel with the look of lightning and clothing white as snow. In fact, he was so scary that the guards trembled and became like dead men. Not only did they experience total crippling and paralyzing fear, but they muffed their job. When they later thawed out, they reported the happenings to the chief priests who in typical fashion fabricated a story blaming the loss of the body on the disciples. In this instance, fear led to lies!
 
Then the angel encountered Mary and Mary saying, Do not be afraid...He is not here for He has risen. The two women ran to tell the disciples with fear and great joy. Their fear gave them the energy and the impetus that they needed to get into action, to spread the glorious news. 
 
When Jesus met the disciples, He said, 'Greetings!' And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid...  The fear in their hearts had turned to worship for some, but for some it produced doubt. Sadly fears power can go either way even in the hearts of disciples. 
 
Jesus went on to give the disciples their final charge: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. They had to go and tell, a message that would not always be popular or well received. What was in their hearts now? There must have been some fear because Jesus said to them, And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  What a powerful scope of human actions fear controls! Am I afraid to tell the story? Am I so afraid that I am paralyzed so that lies result? Is my fear making my faith a lie? Or does my fear cause doubt, doubt that I am equipped or doubt about Jesus Himself? Hopefully, my fear will be positive and send me obediently to tell others about Jesus.
 
Father,
Don't let me be paralyzed by fear, but give me Your power and grace. Help me to run to others with the good news.
In Jesus name,
Amen