Love and Fear part 1
I think there are two "forces" in the universe. Love and fear. NOT love and hate. Because according to 1 John 4:18, "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." And really, these two "forces" could be described as belief and unbelief. Either you know (and believe!) that you are loved, or you don't know it, and you're afraid you're not loved. "Either way, Christ's love controls us..." (2 Corinthians 5:14 NLT). Love is what it's all about. What it all comes down too. Either we do everything we do because we're trying to get love... or we do everything we do because we know (and believe) that we have love. Either we operate from a place of lack (fear), or a place of abundance (love). An abundant life--the life that Jesus came that we might have... the life that Jesus gave us when He gave His life for us and gave His life to us--is a life that's full of love. That's WHY it's abundant. Light and darkness. Seeing love everywhere you look, or groping around trying to find it. Life and death. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (1 John 3:14). Love is the difference. Love is what casts out fear. Love makes us bold. And that can seem a little bit counterintuitive, because on the surface love seems scary. Love makes you vulnerable. In order to love you have to put yourself out there. You have to give yourself. Lay your life down. And I think the biggest fear is that if I give myself... and don't get anything back... I won't have anything. I'll be empty. But guys... how could you ever "run out" of love when you're connected to the source? When the God who IS love lives inside you? In Him we live and move and have our being. In LOVE we live and move and have our being. And in us HE lives and moves and has His being. In us LOVE lives and moves and has His being! Love isn't just what we do... love is who we are. And when you be who you are, you don't run out of who you are. You strengthen yourself in who you are. Like muscles. They don't go away when you use them. They get bigger. When David "encouraged himself in the Lord" (1 Samuel 30:6), he was facing a scary situation. The people wanted to stone him. He was afraid, and he turned to the Lord. He didn't run FROM Daddy, he ran TO Daddy. Isn't it funny that we try to use God as a boogie man in order to get people to behave? As if we don't understand that the GOODNESS of God leads men to repentance. As if we don't see God telling us to "be not afraid" over and over and over again. The love of Christ controlling us has nothing to do with God scaring us. It has everything to do with Him, well, loving us. Perfect love can't cast out fear AND use fear. So I guess what I'm trying to say is... if you're scared of God--if you think He's going to "get you" every time you mess you--then you're not seeing Him clearly. He's not mad at you. He's mad about you. He's not scary. He's angry. He's gentle. He's kind. He's happy. He's... love. How you think about love is how you think about God. If you think you don't have it (Him) then you'll always try to get it. But works and labor don't work. If you know you have it (Him) then you'll share it, because it's too good to keep to yourself, and you won't be afraid of losing it by giving it away!