Bernadette Grey is editor-in-chief of a women’s magazine. Her work-related responsibilities keep her in contact with some of the world’s most successful businesswomen. In a recent editorial she analyzed four factors that lead to success among her colleagues. She mentions 1) optimism, 2) uniqueness, 3) a strong work ethic and 4) fearlessness.
While her four observations relate to successful executives who are women, they apply equally to every person who succeeds. It was that fourth factor–fearlessness–which was especially intriguing to me.
There are two ways you can be fearless: you can have a daring and audacious disregard for reality, or you can have a greater inner strength which assesses the failure factor yet confidently moves ahead. Individuals who disregard reality are usually not fearless, but brazen, and often crash and burn, while those with inner strength move forward with confidence.
Recently, I plowed through two biographies. One was a biography of General Douglas MacArthur, the liberator of the Philippines and the man who did more to shape the future of Japan after World War II than any other person. The second was on the life of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Both of them faced tremendous dangers–personally and collectively. Both had the responsibilities of vast numbers of people on their shoulders, and both of them knew full well the great consequences of making wrong decisions. Both of them, incidentally, on occasion exercised poor judgment and–yes–failed at their tasks. The thing that made them successful, though, is they had enough inner strength that when a decision had to be made, they considered all the factors and moved ahead without fear.
Is this something that you can do, or is this a quality of only truly great men and women? MacArthur, according to his biographer, William Manchester, read his Bible and prayed everyday. As pugnacious and sometimes as belligerent as a junkyard bulldog, Churchill believed tat God hated and fought against the tyrannies of Hitler and Stalin. The fearlessness of these courageous leaders came from an inner conviction that they were instruments in God’s hands. Perfect? No! They made mistakes and plenty of them, but they were confident that God would see them through.
Okay, so you aren’t leading an army or a nation. You, however, may be the head of the family, a single mom, or a husband who is trying to do a good job in your company. Can you as an individual also be fearless, even when the doctor says, "You’ve got melanoma," or your accountant says, "If you know how to pray, you had better pray for a miracle"? Can you be fearless when the circumstances of life seem to bully you?
Fearlessness doesn’t depend on your strength. Knowing that God is in control and that someway, somehow He will see you through lets you move into the future without fear.
Safety is not the absence of danger as much as it is the presence of the Lord. In the Upper Room, Jesus told the disciples, "Stop worrying, stop being afraid." He says the same thing to you today. "You trust God," He told them, "Trust Me as well."
Fearlessness always relates to the future, and when you get there, God will already be there. Make sure you acknowledge that it is He, not yourself, who brought you through the storm. He still says, "Don’t be afraid; don’t worry. Trust Me." - Resource reading: Psalm 46