Love vs Fear

There are two basic emotions that all other emotions stem from: love and fear. There are no other emotions that one can experience on any level. Joy, peace, happiness, calmness, generosity, compassion, meekness and more are all different forms of love. Greed, rejection, guilt, lack of confidence, anger, jealousy, indecision and hate are many of the faces of fear.

To illustrate how this is so, here are some examples:

• 1. Greed is the fear that you won't have enough.
  2. Rejection is the fear that people won't like you.
  3. Lack of confidence is the fear of failure.
  4. Anger is the fear of not having your way.
  5. Jealousy is the fear of losing control and that someone else will get what you want.
  6. Indecision is the fear of making the wrong decision.
  7. Hatred is the fear of what you don't understand.

To put it simply, fear is the act of putting more faith in the power of evil than the power of Almighty God, which is the source of all that is good. In a sense, it can even be looked at as a form of idolatry, because you are attributing more power to evil than to God Himself. Did you know that the book of Revelation in the holy bible says that the fearful will have their part in the lake of fire?

Revelation 21:8 King James Version (KJV)

⁸ But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Fear is a very serious sin which needs to be conquered and most Christians haven't even realized this. There is only one fear that is good and that is the fear of God, but that's not fear that takes away your joy or leaves you quivering sleepless at night. The fear of God is future tense only and not past tense. The fear of God is the fear of going against His will and doing something that you know is wrong. If you're suffering fear of past mistakes, that is from the DEVIL and it is evil. Next time the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.

The answer to this question is found in the book of first John...

1 John 4:18 King James Version (KJV)

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.

If perfect love casts out fear, we can conclude that fear has its origins in self-centeredness. Defeat self-centeredness and ALL selfishness and replace it with perfected love.

What is perfected love? Simply put, it is to love like none other than Jesus Christ Himself did on Earth and still does now that He has ascended to Heaven and sits on the right hand of God Himself.

How To Love Like Jesus Christ:

1. Acquire the gift of the Holy Spirit. No amount of human effort will ever be able to attain perfected love.

2. You must care for everyone as though they were your own family members. Jesus showed the same kind of love and compassion to strangers that He would have shown to His own mother.

3. By paying attention. When you give someone your attention, you're giving them your time. When you give others your time, you're giving them your life. Those are minutes, hours, and even sometimes adding up to days of your life that you will never get back. Most of us will never have the honor of laying down our literal lives to save the lives of others, but this is the closest we will come.

4. Honor thy father and thy mother. You don't have to agree with every decision they made, but it's a commandment by God and was punishable by death if violated during old testament times. Jesus entire life was spent honoring His Father, but He also loved and cared for His mother very much. In fact, before He went to His death, He provided John to make sure all of His mother's needs were met.

5. Showing patience, forgiveness and unending mercy to all. This one is obvious, but so many people overlook it. Jesus said if we don't forgive those who wronged us in this life, then God will not forgive us in the next life. The time is short. Don't think you can harbor a grudge in this life and then forgive the person when you show up for your eternal judgment. It must be done in this life while you're still living and breathing. We've all been hurt deeply in ways that it is a battle just to cope with every day. It's part of life. Maybe you were abused as a child. Maybe someone close to you betrayed you in a way you are still struggling to come to terms to. Maybe someone took the life of one or more of your family members. Maybe someone said or did something hurtful to you that still haunts you all these years later.

Every time you think of these people, remember everything YOU did against Jesus. YOUR sins drove those nine inch nails into the palms of his hands and the tops of his feet. He had to suffer and die because of YOUR mistakes. How can you expect Him to forgive you of everything He had to suffer for you if you cannot forgive someone of their trespasses against you?

Don't think you can get away with a half-butted self-righteous phony forgiveness either. If you're struggling to understand what true forgiveness means, I've written another article for you here.

You cannot get rid of fear without adding love. It's just like how you cannot get rid of darkness without adding light. Fear is not some tangible thing you can just will away with your mind, but it is the very absence of love. In this analogy, you would need the candle of faith to be lit by the flame of works to shine the light of love in order to dispel and cast out the fear. Faith without works is dead and is like an unlit candle which has no affect on fear.

To sum it up in one sentence, put your faith in Jesus to work by sacrificing in meaningful ways for others and this cultivates the love needed to get rid of fear forever. Next time you're afraid or worried about anything, start looking for someone else to comfort.

God bless,

Jared