"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God" (2 Tim 1:7-8).
In Paul's letter to Timothy he admonished him to not be ashamed of Christ or of Paul who was in prison for the cause of Christ. It appears that Timothy was feeling ashamed to stand for Christ out of fear of ridicule and persecution. To encourage Timothy Paul reminded him of God's love, power and soundness of mind that was his from the Lord. Soundness of mind is the God given ability to think and view life from a heavenly perspective.
It was this heavenly mindedness that enabled Paul to say, "...I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). The intimately knowledge of Christ that Paul possessed and his persuasion of the eternal keeping power of Jesus enabled him to not be ashamed of Christ. As a result Paul was also willing to lay down his if need be for the sake of the gospel.
Many today name the name of Christ and are willing to serve him when it suits their interest but fail to stand for Christ--fail to stand for what is right when they fear it will cost them something. When we experience Fear about doing what is right before God and in serving the kingdom of God we need to be reminded that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind." In other words when fear gets our attention we need to turn our attention to God. We need to exercise the sound mind that God has given us and rest in the love and power of God. God's love and power assures and persuades us that he is with us, that he will keep us, that he watches over us in this life and forever. Fear will turn to faith when worry turns to worship.
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