Don’t Stand for Fear. Stand for Love

This thing called Fear,

Threatens as it comes near,

Finding its way under our guard,

Love’s suddenly impossibly hard.

Fear is no friend,

He will take us to the end,

It’s where despair we’ll find,

And we won’t be able to be kind.

But love will dispel all fear,

Love will draw us near,

God’s love perfects our hope,

God’s love is goodness to cope.

Don’t stand for fear. It comes into our lives and ravages us without us even knowing it most the time. It is an intruder who is never truly welcome. Fear stifles, threatens, makes promises it cannot keep, and produces doubting and despair, envying and jealousy, pride and self-righteousness.

I hate fear. I’m sure God hates fear. It robs us of every good thing that was ever destined to help us to live a life of love.

Fear will destroy all you’ve worked for if you’ll let it. It will certainly wreak havoc with all your relationships as you wrangle for possession of poise against the haranguing anxieties that propel good things ever away.

I know women and men who have thrown their good lives away because they were dominated by fear without ever knowing it. They allowed the poise of pride to be their veneer, and never truly acknowledged their inner brokenness. They became their own worst enemies, thinking that God was an entity who could be manipulated. They preferred to live a lie instead of owning a truth we all must own.

We need God.

It is an anachronism that a Christian can live the worldly existence and join forces with secularism and not be trapped in fear. We cannot serve God and money; Jesus makes that point plainly.

Fear will finish us, but when we choose to come back to love – a moment at a time – and go back into the heart of God in our fear – we are given power to overcome our fear.

Love will overcome fear as we live our love; that is to live in loving ways, which is to give, be kind, compassionate, just, humble, and good in every way we can.

Every time we give our lives away we overcome our fear afresh. See how overcoming fear is actually quite an easy thing, but it will cost. But this cost is a benefit far outweighing any true cost in pure benefit of personal wellbeing.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.