The Fourth Type of Riches: Freedom From Fear

Napoleon Hill, best known as the author of Think and Grow Rich, identified twelve forms of riches that together define a truly wealthy life. While many people focus almost exclusively on material wealth, Hill places several internal, spiritual, and relational riches far higher on the list.

In this article, we turn to the fourth form of wealth:

Freedom from Fear.

It is fascinating that Hill ranks freedom from fear so highly. Even more telling is what comes before it. First, he identifies A Positive Mental Attitude as the highest form of wealth. Emotions, mindset, and inner orientation clearly shape everything that follows. Fear, then, is not a minor obstacle—it is a foundational force that either enables or paralyzes every other pursuit in life.

What Fear Really Is

The apostle John offers a striking insight into the nature of fear:

"Fear has to do with punishment."

—1 John 4:18

Fear is rooted in the belief that we are going to be punished in some way. Punished by the world for not being good enough, not being strong enough, not being smart enough. Punished for past decisions—financial, relational, physical, or even spiritual. At its core, fear is faith pointed in the wrong direction. It is the belief that our shortcomings will eventually catch up with us.

But fear requires something else to exist: a specific desired outcome.

If someone has no particular outcome they are attached to, then any outcome is acceptable—and fear has no place. Fear only arises when we believe that a particular external result must happen in order for us to be okay.

So the question becomes: What outcome are we ultimately aiming at?

Reframing the Desired Outcome

The goal is not the absence of desire. Rather, the goal is the right desire.

The highest desired outcome should not be control over circumstances, approval from others, or material success. Instead, it should be this:

When that becomes the ultimate aim, fear begins to lose its grip.

Wisdom from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius—like King Solomon, a ruler who wrestled deeply with the meaning of life—arrived at remarkably similar conclusions.

In Meditations, he writes:

"Remove the judgment, and you remove the thought, 'I am hurt.' Remove the thought 'I am hurt,' and the hurt itself is removed. What does not make a human being worse in himself cannot make his life worse either."

—Meditations 4:7–8

Elsewhere, he says:

"Things of themselves cannot touch the soul at all. They have no entry to the soul, and cannot turn or move it. The soul alone turns and moves itself, making all externals presented to it cohere with the judgments it thinks worthy of itself."

—Meditations 5:19

Aurelius is pointing to a profound truth: freedom from fear flows from what we value.

The Problem with External Priorities

Any priority rooted primarily in external results will ultimately disappoint us.

If it never happens, we suffer.
If it does happen, we discover it does not fill the space in our soul we thought it would.

This is why Aurelius insists that our priorities must be placed on invisible treasures, not visible ones. The same principle appears throughout Scripture.

The First Commandments Are About Value

Consider the first two commandments given to Moses:

"You shall have no other gods before me."
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image……You shall not bow down to them or serve them."

—Exodus 20:3–5

These are not arbitrary rules. They are commands about priority. About value. About where we place our ultimate trust and desire.

God, as the greatest treasure, is the source and essence of love itself. Loving Him fully—and loving our neighbor as ourselves as an outflow of that love—is entirely unaffected by external circumstances. Nothing imposed from outside can touch it.

This is why John writes:

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."

—1 John 4:18

Why does perfect love cast out fear?

And if love is our highest priority above all else, we can attain it regardless of anything else in the world. Nothing that can possibly happen to us in any way affects our choice to love above all else.

How Perfect Love Is Formed

But how do we attain such love?

John gives the answer:

"Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us…because as he is so also are we in this world."

—1 John 4:15-17

God is not merely loving—He is love itself. Rather, He is the essence of love. Love is how we define the greatest, highest aspect of God. It manifests itself in a way which we describe as "love" when we experience even just the outer fringes of what it means.

When God abides in us, love is perfected in us.

And how does God abide in us?

By recognizing Jesus as the manifestation of God in human form—the clearest expression of God's character translated into human experience. When we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus.

Jesus Himself acknowledged that some would struggle with His claims:

"If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

—John 10:37-38

Paraphrasing this, Jesus stated bluntly that he knew some of his hearers would not believe the words he was saying. To put this in other words, it's as though he's saying, "If you don't accept the words, at least understand that the works are the works of God. At least acknowledge that the works I do are in keeping with the character of God. This is what God is like. If you don't believe who I say that I am, at least believe that God is like the works that I do."

In other words: If you struggle with his words, at least recognize the character.

Healing. Restoration. Mercy. Deliverance. Love.

This is what God is like.

Acknowledging this opens the door for God's Spirit to dwell within us, perfecting love—and casting out fear.

The Role of the Comforter

Throughout Scripture, phrases like "fear not" and "do not be afraid" appear over a hundred times. That repetition alone tells us something: fear is a universal human struggle.

This is why Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, whom He called the Comforter.

The life we are called to—the hero's journey, the call to adventure—requires us to leave external certainties behind. Comfort, guarantees, and visible security are exchanged for something greater.

The Comforter keeps our focus on invisible treasures.

He is the one who ultimately sets us free from fear.

Truth and Freedom

Jesus said:

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

—John 8:32

Free from what?

Ultimately, free from every form of evil—including fear.

Truth aligns us with heavenly priorities. Eternal treasures. The untouchable and absolute.

That is why Jesus taught:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

—Matthew 6:19–21

And later:

"Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?... Your heavenly Father knows that you need [all these things]. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

—Matthew 6:25–33

This is not a promise of luxury—but it is a promise of provision.

Those who prioritize invisible treasures will not lack what they truly need.

The Ultimate Wealth

Jesus Himself did not accumulate great material wealth. Yet He had health, friendship, purpose, provision, and most importantly, the Spirit of God. He embodied what He taught:

"There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the [good news], who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life."

—Mark 10:29–30

Freedom from fear comes from aligning your priorities with what cannot be taken from you.

Invisible treasures are completely secure. And amazingly, material treasures follow in line with the right priorities.

As John writes later in the Revelation about the New Jerusalem, which is this same kingdom of eternal treasures:

"its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it."

—Revelation 21:25-27

In other words, the gates will always be open. And nothing can destroy it. Nothing can touch it or mar it. There is absolute freedom from fear within it. Only glory and honor may enter its gates. Nothing else.

Living Free from Fear

Freedom from fear is not passive. It empowers a life of purpose, impact, and legacy.

When priorities are aligned, you can face any remaining fears willingly and courageously. Each time you confront fear and rise again, its hold weakens. Chains fall away.

Eventually, life begins to feel like that moment in a dream when nothing can hurt you—and everything becomes possible.