Fear is Our Foe: Love is Our Liberator
Fear, like desire, is one of evils most powerful tools. An existential scourge on all of humanity beginning with in the beginning. An ancient garden deception leading to the disfigurement and distortion of God’s good world and the humans created to control and care for it; our ancestors and ourselves.
Creatures in rebellion because genuine love requires genuine freedom. Freedom we all too easily surrender to others out of fear and false promises of security. A boldface lie because no human can ensure your security, let alone your salvation.
All ancient and modern fears start with a lack of trust in God. Fear that can begin as a trickle; fear that can morph into a tsunami if left unchecked.
Once the full force of fear is freed, it will devour and destroy everything in its path. Reaping what we sow, because God will honor our choices and so will evil.
The modern world isn’t so modern, when you understand that fear continues to be weaponized by individuals and institutions; clergy and churches to manipulate other people for selfish gain, while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Screens of every size selling fear porn and click bait. A culture living in a consistent state of anxiety, depression, panic, angst, and hopelessness because its anchored in something other than Love. Spiritual charlatans and false prophets aiding and abetting in this poisoning of humanity and God’s good world with their own forbidden fruit.
The titans of technology amplifying and augmenting fear with continuous and constant messages of doom, despair and death. The world is warming, and the world is cooling. There are too many people, there aren’t enough people. The end must be near. Even if only God knows when that day and hour commences.
Fear employed by marketers to sell us things we don’t need. Fear marketed by governments to sell us wars we certainly don’t need. Fear used by the powerful to mistreat their sisters and brothers. Our sisters and brothers; living images that reflect the Divine.
Our fear of death is Evil’s most manipulative maneuver. A deception that Jesus has already destroyed and overcome. In love there is no fear, because perfect love casts out fear.
Living in fear diminishes our humanity and erodes our relationship with God. Terrible fear only leads to terrible things for all people. We were created to live in love, not in fear. God is love.
Fearing God is not the same as living in fear of God. Like Job, it’s about understanding and valuing our unique place within creation. Creatures created to honor their Creator, not their own creations or other creatures.
The freeway of Love available to everyone who chooses life’s greatest and most glorious journey. Accessible and numerous on-ramps called humility, compassion, selflessness, kindness, generosity, empathy and grace will lead you and me to our intended destination. A new humanity with a new heart living in a reunited heaven and earth.
A kingdom created through the grace of God and our faith in Christ Jesus. A kingdom that’s not about status, social structure or even sin. A new creation that welcomes everyone because that’s the nature of Love which is exactly what Jesus did and does.
It’s our always our choice to either live a life of love or one driven by fear. Choices that we make daily and whose consequences will reverberate throughout the cosmos. Perfect love liberating us from all fears, even our fear of death.
Peace. God loves you.