“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” -II Timothy 1:7, NKJV
“No more giants Waging war, Can't we just pursue our lives With our children and our wives? Till that happy day arrives.” -Into the Woods
Even given the magical world he inhabits, The Baker is much afraid of things both real and imagined. He allows circumstances to wreak havoc with his life. Without his dutiful wife, he would be unable to meet the challenge of breaking The Witch’s spell. And yet, he does what so many of us do when faced with fear: he tries to cover over with bravado. Internally, The Baker knows that he can’t break the spell without his wife’s efforts, but his fear causes him to disregard his wife’s abilities. He pretends that he doesn’t need her and that he is the one who must protect her. In other words, his fear blinds him to the truth of what he needs to get the thing his heart most desires.
This sense of fear and bravado echoes back to the opening chapters of Genesis and humankind’s reaction to the consequence of sin. The first humans, Adam and Eve, hide from God when He comes because they are afraid of God and how He will react to their disobedience, and rightly so. Given the complete holiness of God and His perfect sense of justice, Adam and Eve have much to fear for disobeying God’s command. When God asks Adam why he is hiding, Adam answers that he heard the sound of God coming, and “I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid” (Genesis 3:10b, NIV). Just like The Baker, Adam attempts to dispel his fear by hiding from the truth. Our sin exposes us to the consequences of fear and death.
And yet, despite their sin, God cares for them by making “clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife” (Genesis 3:21, NLT). God provided a means of salvation for the first humans. He literally covered their nakedness, but this covering came at the cost of the life of at least one animal. In fact, the Bible is clear about the need for cleansing blood to forgive sins, as seen in the example of the sacrificial system of ancient Israel: “...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22b, NIV). The death of this innocent animal to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve represents the innocent life given by Jesus at the cross to cover the sins of humankind. Even at the beginning of the Scriptures, there is a means of salvation present in the work of the Lord.
Given the nature of God’s complete forgiveness through the sacrificial life and death of Jesus, we no longer need to fear the ultimate consequence of sin: death and separation from God forever. The Apostle Paul reassures his mentee Timothy that he does not need to live in fear, but rather, he can live in power, love, and with a sound mind. With the conquering of our sin, Jesus frees those He has called and those who have placed their trust in Him from fear. With our greatest debt forever paid, we can live freely in a life that pleases Him.
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