Fear

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 KJV)

I am told that one of the most fundamental things that people look for is a sense of security. We architect and re-architect so much in the design of our lives and in the lives of those we are close to so that there is something very stable there. Rather than pen another article that explains how to obtain a better sense of security, I would like to reflect on the oldest and most powerful means to establish it. Have you ever noticed the thing that keeps you most isolated from your neighbors is a sense of insecurity? What if they think poorly of me? What if they retaliate in some way? Is it not just easier to force them to see my needs via a new home owners regulation? Attempting to manage your security has effectively made you significantly more insecure.

Compare this with surrendering to God’s commandment to love your neighbors. Keeping in mind that love is patient and kind. It is gentle and long suffering. Yet it reaches out. It reaches out over and over until it finds something of mutual interest. It reaches out until it finally comes to a mutual level of respect. Now you have neighbors that you know. You know of a mutual interest and some level of respect. You learn the difference between watching out for them and spying on them to turn them in. You learn to have a heart for them to both mourn with them and rejoice with them. You learn to warn them of dangers and guide them out of dangers that they are already in without judging or condemning them. Part of learning of God’s love made perfect toward us is revealed in reflecting that with them. Jesus has sufficient quantities of grace to cover there faults, our faults, and to give us hope for a surer tomorrow.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18 KJV)