If you’re scared to do what you know you need to do.

I'm scared. You ever been scared? Maybe you are now. Let me share how God is helping me handle my fear.

I hinted last week that I'm getting ready to share something, to write about something, this year that has me freaked out. Over the weekend, the directive to write about it became even more clear. No matter how much I argue with God about not wanting to share what he's telling me to share, I know I have to. It comes down to that obedience thing I was talking about last week as well.

But this "thing" I have to share could cost me a lot. I mean A LOT.

Some of that is surely my clinical anxiety speaking up. I call it the tyranny of the "what if?" But there's a good chunk of it that's legitimate. That's real. There could be consequences.

I could lose followers.

I could lose jobs (present and future).

I could lose clients.

I could lose my platform.

I could lose book deals.

I could lose opportunities.

But I have to do it. Why? Because I know it's going to help a lot of people — even more so than my book on mental health. Not many are talking about this thing, especially in the Christian space. And most importantly? God told me to do it.

So this morning, I did what I've been telling you to do. I took it to God. I prayed and journaled about it starting at 4:30am, because that's when God woke me up. I want to share with you what he told me, because I think it might be what YOU need to hear if you're facing something scary that you know you have to do but don't want to do.

"Jon, I will be with you. I will go before you. I will surround you. I will take care of everything. You will be living in your full identity by doing this."

That hit me right in the heart. Does it you? The God of the universe will be there with you — with me — when he asks you to do something scary. You will never do it alone. As you've probably heard before, "He equips the called."

But he didn't stop there.

As I continued to sit and pray, God reminded me of a powerful story in the Bible. It's in the book of 1 Chronicles, chapter 21. Here, we find that King David — one of the titans of the Christian faith — had (once again) done something wrong. God was angry, and he sent a "pestilence" to strike Israel.

David, full of remorse and realizing his error, was ready to listen to God. So God sent an angel to tell David to go to a specific place and build an altar and offer a sacrifice. When David arrives at this place, the land owner is awestruck. So awestruck, in fact, that he offers the land and the sacrificial animals to David for free. A nice deal for David, right?

Wrong.

Instead of taking the man up on the free offer, David does something incredible: he refuses. Why? This is where it gets really good. He says these words: "I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing." He then paid the man a lot of money for the land and the animals.

Did you catch that? Let me put it in the way someone once paraphrased for me: "I will not sacrifice that which costs me nothing."

That's when it hit me: God was telling me to do something, and I wanted it to come at no cost. I wanted it to be free. But God was telling me: Don't sacrifice that which will cost you nothing.

Friend, there are times that God is going to tell us to do something that scares us; to sacrifice something. And no matter how much we try to bargain with him or get out of it, we know what we have to do. And you know what he says?

1. I will be with you.

2. It may in fact cost you something, and that's why it's a true sacrifice. If it doesn't cost you, then it isn't a sacrifice at all.

I'm resting in that today. I want you to as well.

But here's where it gets truly mind-boggling. As you finish the story of David in 1 Chronicles 21, chapter 22 starts out with something that brought me to tears. You know what it says? It's one little verse that appears like an, "Oh, by the way." Here it is: That little area that David refused to take for free, that random piece of land that God led David to, became the site of the temple, the greatest and most important building in the history of Israel. The most sacred and glorious reflection of God on earth.

Friend, you may be scared — I may be scared — but when we are willing to sacrifice that he's telling us to sacrifice, he turns it into something great and incredible.

So, what temple will he build with your sacrifice?

(Pic: My son fishing over Christmas break. The sacrifice God is asking me to make, and to talk about, has had incredible benefits to my most important relationships. It's allowed me to have more moments like this.)