01.22.09
Fear is the mind killer
Fear can make people do many things they never thought they would do. It is amazing how fear can force us to do things that we never wanted to do or intended to do. Yet being driven by fear always seems to run counter to being driven by love.
Recently I saw a couple who loved each other very much spiral out of control to the brink of divorce because they were driven by fear. The words I heard most was “I have to defend myself”. Both were worried about the other hurting them so they were driven by fear to “defend themselves” when what they both wanted was to reconcile and love one another. So I ask this question. How often are we driven by fear to “defend ourselves” when what we should be doing is forgiving and reconciling? How often are problems that we are facing escalated because we react in fear? Fear clouds our judgment as we slip into a mode where all we do is think about ourselves versus what God wants. I think that is what the apostle John is saying when he says in 1 John 4:16-18. I like how the Message paraphrases it best to illustrate this point.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
Fear is crippling as I showed in the illustration of the couple who came to the brink of divorce. Yet I am glad to say that this couple ultimately chose love and backed away from the precipice. Yet we need to look at our own lives and see where fear is crippling us. We need to let God into those places and let his love banish those fears. So where ever your fears resides: in your relationships, in your finances, in your job, or where ever else; let God into those areas and let his love set you free.
