We can all probably quote at least one passage about fear. When I think about this odd and uncomfortable emotion, the following proverb comes to mind:

Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare,

but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

Fear can manifest itself in many ways, especially within our professional lives. And when it’s present here, it will most certainly stifle future career growth.

It might be anxiety about a delicate workplace situation. It could be fear of looking bad. It can be the fear of the unknown workload. Perhaps it is fear of missing out on an opportunity. And, as the proverbs suggests above, it could be fear of getting fired.  

To help you identify the traps that accompany fear, we’ve assembled five of the most common ways fear can work against your career. In this short blog we won’t be diving into the solution. But this is what we ask: With each fear below, if you are willing, see if you can find one Bible passage that highlights a great solution. 

Fear Defined

What exactly is fear? Being scared isn’t just for Halloween and scary movies! It is our most powerful emotion. Studies show people identify fear above any other sentiment. Fear is primal. It is controlled by two almond-sized regions of the brain called the amygdala, which facilitate past experience, decision-making and feelings. Our fear response is designed by God as a biological outcome of how we experience our environment, including the workplace.

While there is a valid role fear plays in life, the body tends to irrationally use the fear we generate in our own thinking. So, it is important we identify it as soon as we can. Here are the top five:

1. Playing it safe
 
Fear of making mistakes causes us to play it safe. This tends to be fear of looking bad or, said in another way, fear of social rejection. This is fear of man. And when present, it dampens our greatest strengths and prevents us from doing our most creative work. When we choose to play it safe, we don’t take risks that are very natural in the marketplace. Albert Einstein once said, “A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it was built for.” God did not design us to play it safe either. What biblical characters do you know chose not to play it safe?

2. Living in the past
 
It’s such an encouraging thing to achieve a major accomplish or reach a big goal in our career. Even more so is when we are recognized for it publicly. For many of us, we begin to fear not being able to replicate future success. We see ourselves as one-hit-wonders. As such, we hold on to past glory as if the best years are behind us. If you find yourself thinking about how great things used to be for you, it might mean you are stuck in a fear of success. When here, we often tell ourselves things like, “I’ve done enough, why push now,” or “Things are different now, I could never repeat that again,” or “If I achieve even bigger goals, I’ll be given more responsibility and I won’t be able to handle it.” What scripture comes to mind that teaches us to leave the past behind us?

3. Pushing instead of waiting
 
Many of us spend much time and effort forcing outcomes we can neither control nor fully understand. This can be a result of the fear of the unknown. We are surrounded by a business culture of pushing as fast and hard as we can to achieve results, be productive, grow the business, reach even higher. I see this manifest itself often in small business owners especially. We are so conditioned to expect (if not outright demand) results now, if we don’t get them, we push others and ourselves too hard. This is an obvious manifestation of fear. It’s as if we are saying, “If I don’t get this done or achieve this goal, something bad is going to happen to me.”  Where have you seen people in God’s word unwilling to wait on God?

4. Choosing independence
 
Only God knows all, as is beautifully captured in Deuteronomy 29:29. And yet, we often tell ourselves we are supposed to solve every problem that comes our way. If we don’t, we might possibly look bad or weak. This is ultimately a fear of being rejected. We have convinced ourselves it is wrong to be any kind of burden to others and start believing it be a Christian virtue. These types of limiting beliefs keep us from asking for help when stumped or blocked. Although getting assistance could foster a quick resolution, we cave to the fear of looking bad and suffer for it. Where in the Word does God encourage us to lean on others?  

5. Making work more important than God
 
It is OK to “fail” at a company that does not share our values and ideals. It is not OK to allow an unscrupulous company to influence our relationship with God. As Christians, we are called to work in all things as if we are working for the Lord. However, if we find ourselves tempted to conduct unprincipled behavior to either keep our job or to get ahead, this is likely a fear of being poor (peniaphobia). I know many faithful disciples of Jesus who have this irrational fear. It’s real and it can cause us to consider doing business in a crooked way. What passages stand out to you as a warning against this behavior?

Fear Defeated

We are called by God to conquer fear. Knowing how to identify it can really helps us overcome it. There is no better example of a man overcoming fear (no, terror) than Jesus Himself. He endured physical pain, rejection, public humiliation and death. Each of these can be categorized in their own fear state. What passages can you hide in your heart that will help you defeat fear?

Shawn Sommerkamp is a motivational speaker and Executive Coach with 20+ years of Fortune 100 leadership experience.  He founded Motivationeer® to coach Christian professionals how to bring the power of Christ’s word, as the foundation of career success, into the corporate and small-business world.

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