Love Alone

If fear is the seed that is planted, then fear is the tree that will grow. Love ends fear. Love destroys fear. In the presence of love, fear and all its unholy children have to either leave or die; there can be no compromise. Love does not require fear in order to induce obedience. Love does not involve fear on any level at all, whatsoever. The two things do not coexist in harmony. Rather, they clash. One must, of necessity, antagonize the other. They are not ever actually friends, and anyone who would convince you they are is trying to sell you something poisonous.

So much of our religion has adopted fear as a sort of hired thug; someone to do the dirty work of terrifying the ostensibly halfhearted into submission, and making true believers out of them. This whole business is based on an an altogether faulty pretext, this being that reconciliation must, of necessity, be the progeny of condemnation. It’s the single most warned-about thing in the New Testament, this lie.

Fear is appealing, because it allows us to control people…we use it to startle, and to give pause, and then we use the vulnerability this creates as an opportunity to reach in and gain a handle on  the person’s decision making. It’s something we do when we’re not trusting God. It’s something we do when we haven’t let go. These are lessons impossible to be learned without pain, pain so bad I almost wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy…

…And yet, it is a pain that God uses to perfect that which concerns us, his masterpiece. I repent for ever thinking otherwise (which I have done to no end, me having been a particularly troublesome human, at times.) I rejoice in the truth of the risen Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me (and for you!) and who absolutely succeeded. I thank you, Jesus for the things you have taught me about fear, and how bad it is, and how toxic, and deadly. Allow me the grace to never use this knowledge for evil. Allow me the strength to use every drop of my energy to love the world the way you do. Amen.