Love and Fear

I can't stand pat answers to problems. To me the message in a pat answer usually is, "I don't really care" or, "I don't know what to say, and I have to say something, so I'll say this". We throw poorly understood bible verses at people's pain to see what sticks.

How many times have I heard this verse in response to someone who's facing something scary, like just finding out he/she has cancer or something:

"Perfect love casts out fear!" (1 John 4:18)

In other words, don't be afraid! God loves you and that love takes the place of any fear you might have today! Isn't that encouraging?

Well, no. I still have cancer. It still sucks. Now I'm not only afraid, but I feel guilty for being afraid because I have obviously not understood something important about God's character. I have cancer, I'm afraid AND I'm a bad Christian. Great.

This is a perfect example of why reading (and quoting) scripture in context is important. Here's the context of 1 John 4:18:

"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. 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."

Fear is not bad. Fear is not necessarily evil. If you're afraid of something scary (like cancer), that is not an indication that anything is working improperly. Fear can be a very useful thing. For example, if one is being chased by a large, hungry tiger, fear is an appropriate adaptive survival response. Your body responds to fear by producing HUGE amounts of adrenaline, which makes you more aware, increases blood flow to the muscles you'll need to fight or flee and increases the amount of oxygen you're processing so you can do all of this. Fear focuses your attention on the dominate issue at hand, literally blocking out almost all stimuli other than what you need to do what you're doing.

From a the point of view of mental health, being afraid of fear is a very sad state of affairs. That leads nowhere fast.

1 John 4:15-18 has nothing to do with that kind of fear. The fear addressed in this passage has to do with following God out of fear of punishment or judgment. You cannot love someone you're afraid of...not even God. ESPECIALLY not God. I anticipate the objection, "but what about the 'fear' of God?" That's a completely different word with a completely different meaning. It has to do with wonder and awe, not fear of what he'll do to you if you sin.

God's love overcomes all of that. The broader context of 1 John is...LOVE. We know that God loves us because he sent his Son as a sacrifice for our sin. That (and that alone) is the revelation of God's love for us. We love each other because we understand what that love has done in us; we change the way we live because we understand what that love has done for us. The one and only litmus test is love. This is not about punishment; this is not about judgement, because perfect love casts out fear.

I'm afraid of a few things today, and that's okay. I'm not afraid of being afraid. God has poured his love into my life. He is currently pouring it into me right now at this moment. In the immortal words of the Prophet (Bob) Marley, "...every little thing gonna be alright."