Abolish Fear

At the time I'm writing this, Kim Jong Il died less than 24 hours ago. The GOP Presidential Candidates are blasting one another saying "this one" or "that one" can't be trusted. They're all saying Obama will destroy the nation.  The Democratic Party is touting that the Republicans will decimate the middle class if elected.  The nation is still in an economic crisis. Congress and the President can't agree on a tax "holiday" deal. Several European countries are facing financial meltdown which, I'm told, would affect the whole world.  Bradley Manning is fighting his case against the US Government who says he put the nation in grave danger by leaking war secrets.  Our military has recently left Iraq, and people are worried about what will happen.  Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and has recently captured a US Spy Drone.  Many houses were robbed last night.  In the past few weeks, there have been murders less than 100 miles from my house.  

I could go on, but what's the point?  What can we do about it?  Elect the right people?  Join the military?  Get the right house security system?  Reinvest money so we're guaranteed a healthy retirement?  Buy a gun?  Hide?  Be afraid? --  These are all things that the powers that be want us to do.   

They want us to fear.  They want us to be afraid we don't have enough...we aren't safe enough...our kids won't love us if we don't get them what they want...we're not good enough...we don't look handsome or pretty enough...and on and on.

Does it have to be that way?  Do we have to make EVERY decision based on fear?  When someone disagrees with us, does that make them evil?  What if a rogue nation gets a nuclear weapon? - We should fear that, right?

But, the time has come!  The time has come to stop living in fear!  The time has come to live in hope!

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love (1 John 4:8).

There is the answer.  Simple.  "Perfect loves casts out fear."  Perfect love abolishes fear.  Where there is love, there is no fear.

But, love of what?  What do we have to love so that we don't have to be afraid?  Well, I could probably give you a shorter answer of what we don't have to love.  But I won't take that route.

We need to love God.  God has been faithful to all of us, and yet we wonder if God will "come through" again.  Will God provide?  The simple answer is "yes." The One who created us did not create us as a "cosmic joke" to watch us struggle and suffer alone.  When we feel alone, we may be - in the worldly sense - but we're never truly alone from God.  It may feel like it, it may seem like it, we will go through struggles - even struggles that seem so great that we feel we can't cope - BUT, we're NOT alone.

We need to love others.  We need to love those who have hurt us.  We need to love those who have done evil things.  But to do this, we need to know what love is.  

  Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

That's how Paul describes love, but what does it mean?  It doesn't mean we have to tolerate evil.  It doesn't mean we have to sit silent when injustice happens.  It doesn't mean that we look at the world with rose colored glasses.  

When we see evil, we need to speak the truth.  When someone wrongs us, we should speak up.  When things in this world are not right, we need to work to make them right.  BUT, we don't need to fear!

Bad things will happen.  But, until God decides that the time has come, the sun will rise tomorrow.  And when God decides the sun will no longer rise it will because God's light will block out the sun.  If we lose our money, life will go on.  Tougher? Yes!  Impossible? Hardly!  If there is a national security issue, we may be hurt...but, we don't need to fret and worry about it.  

Over 2000 years ago, the entire picture of life was given a new frame.  Rather than what we see, we now can know with certainty that there is more.  Because Christ was born, ministered, died, and was resurrected, life now has new meaning.  Death is not death.  Death is just the end of one existence.  We can leave this existence and know that we can have a better existence.  All we have to do is accept it.

All we have to do is quit playing the "Fear Game."  Fear cannot win if we refuse to play the game.