Fear And Timidity

God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7

THERE ARE SUPERHEROES all over the world today—all over the entertainment world, that is. You can find them in movies, books, comics, graphic novels, and more. Sometimes it seems as if we have more do-gooders and crime fighters than we could possibly use!

Power is one of the traits we admire most in modern superheroes. Characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider Man, and the X-Men all have special abilities and areas of prowess that make them especially formidable. They can “save the day” when we are impotent. They can accomplish goals we can’t even imagine and overcome obstacles we would be terrified to face—which certainly comes in handy when they have to face supervillains that seek to harm the innocent.

But it takes more than power to become a superhero. It takes a special character of heart defined by traits like love and self-discipline. Superheroes constantly place the needs of others above their own. They understand the consequences of right and wrong actions, and they use those moral boundaries and consequences to curtail and channel their power for the benefit of others.

There are no promises from God in Scripture that he will make us superheroes. We will have no mutant abilities or special powers to get us through—not in this life, anyway. But in 2 Timothy 1:7 we see that God has promised the character traits that truly matter. When we believe him and trust him with our limited abilities, he will grant us power, love, and self-discipline to overcome the powers of evil. That’s a promise.