Love Drives Out Fear

So if fear is such a negative thing and so detrimental to our faithfulness and fruitfulness in Christ how do we get past it? Faith is the antithesis to fear but love is the antidote. The Bible teaches that “perfect love drives out fear”. This makes perfect sense. Faith requires living by taking risks based upon God’s voice and God’s promises. Fear is simply the state we live in when we really don’t believe the voice or the promises. Love is the answer. If we know that we know that we know God loves us, then we know He won’t let us down when we step out in faith. If we know He loves us we’ll pursue and have a level of intimacy with Him to know His voice so we won’t doubt when we hear Him or even be afraid of hearing wrongly. After all if we make a mistake trying to listen to Him and do His will, if He loves us He’ll put us back on the right track. We will believe His promises, act upon them, see His faithfulness and rejoice in His goodness. The answer for the overwhelming and paralyzing fear that grips a control bound Western Christianity is nothing other than the love of God. We are like little children on the edge of the pool wanting to jump in for the first time. Daddy is in the water with His arms extended and promising to catch us. How do we know He’ll catch us? He has a track record of love and faithfulness, but the only way to be sure is to jump. How do we get past the fear into the arms of a good and loving God, trust His love and take the plunge. Give the money you are prompted to give, start the class you have been nudged to start, reach out to the neighbor or co-worker God has placed on your heart. Base your next decision not upon the fear based prognosis of the current economy but on the voice of God revealed in your heart and in the scriptures. We can live lives of adventure and freedom outside of fear and in the arms of love. Jump.

More on Fear

One of the worst ways we hide fear is by hiding behind our Bibles and theology. This happens when knowing all the right answers and being able to correct others becomes more important then knowing and loving God and knowing and loving people. This is often the way of the religious who are afraid of real relationships. We all have been hurt by life and instead of risking more hurt we decide being right is more important than being real and vulnerable. The Bible, and theology can then become tools to actually keep God and people at arms length. This is the way of the Pharisees. Don't get me wrong, the Bible is true and good theology (what we think about God) is important. In fact if we truly understood the word of the Bible and had good theology we would be set free from fear and hiding. Sadly that seems to be too hard for all of us sometimes and for some all the time. So we use our knowledge of the Bible and theological correctness to bully people and keep threats away, we use phrases like 'where is that in the Bible' to protect us from God encounters, and 'that's not biblical' to protect us from changing our minds. As I said, I believe this kind of Pharisaical thinking is rooted in fear. It keeps people isolated, unchangeable and mean. The very antithesis to the heart of God, who wants us in real community, repent, teachable, kind and lovable.

Fear, Wisdom, and Stewardship

Fear is so prevalent in Western Christianity we have theological names for it to hide behind. Two words we use to mask fear are wisdom and stewardship. We use the word wisdom to mean let's maintain the status quo, it would be unwise to change what we are doing, and problem free comfort is the primary goal. We use the word stewardship to justify selfishness with our money and property, we hoard these things for the saints instead of risking them missionally. New Testament wisdom is living by faith, and as John Wimber used to say faith is spelled R-I-S-K. Faith leaves comfort, prays for the sick and expects them to get well, casts out demons and is often leaving familiar places and people for God adventures. And in the New Testament money and property are not evil at all, but seen as tools to expand God's Kingdom on earth, they are given away generously for the cause of evangelism and mercy. Whenever I hear the words let's be wise or practice good stewardship I listen carefully to hear if it is the voice of fear or faith behind these words. All too often out of my mouth and the mouths others it has been the voice of fear.