Fear and Ego
I think that many of our fears are tied to Ego and Self and when we are able to do something for the glory of God somehow all the fear goes away. I will use the following little story about myself to illustrate.
When I was in 2nd grade we were studying Benjamin Franklin and since we were young, we were studying a made up story about how a mouse who lived with Benjamin Franklin was the true creator and not old Ben himself. Anyway, it was decided that the story would be a little performance at a parents meeting the next week. I loved the story and somehow was chosen to do the part. I practiced and practiced and practiced, I learned the story frontwards and backwards.
The big night came, and all of my family and the school were seated in the Auditorium. I was behind the curtain in the center of the stage waiting. I had on a cute little outfit and some mouse ears made out of a milk jug. It just so happened that my best friend was operating the curtain and she had never seen me in my little mouse ears so about the time she pulled the curtain back she saw me and…..
if you are familiar with little girls this age you can probably guess what happened. She began to giggle uncontrollably and as soon as she looked at me I started to giggle. This went on for what seemed like an eternity with me trying to compose myself, then looking at her and giggling. Finally, they took her off the stage and I was able to give a flawless performance and then run crying off the stage.
Ever since then, I have been mortified by ANY kind of public speaking or performance and I am a singer/songwriter and love the spoken word so this has been a great hindrance to me my whole life.
However, the very first time I actually performed for a reason other than my own selfish desires, the fear vanished. I have come to realize that when we are doing things for the right reason, fear can’t stop us.
When the Purpose is clear, The fear disappears.