Perfect Love and Fear
Pastor Brown writes,
Scripture says that perfect love casts out fear. As such - a Christian ought never act out of fear. Our actions are not to be based on fear of what is to come, worry, what have you.Wonderful advice. Most of us do make decisions from fear--the fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of reprisals, fear of bankruptcy and so on.
Every decision, every action you take - fear is to not be a factor. Why? Because if you are acting out of fear, you won't be seeking to show love. Simple as that.
Think on the times you have made decisions because of fear and or terror. Do they show love? Are they done well? Nope. Be calm, be focused on Christ - and act in peace and hope and love. Christ is in charge, He is in control - decide what is given to you with peace and calm. Never act out of fear of what might come, but with love and hope and the desire to use the gifts God has given you for the sake of your neighbor.
This is the Christian life.
The Albert Brooks movie Defending Your Life explores living a life based on fear and how debilitating it is. The premise is that Brooks' character dies and the afterlife begins with a trial of sorts, where scenes from his past are projected in a theater. The Prosecutor chooses moments of life where the character is living based on fear to illustrate the subject is not suitable for "Heaven" or whatever. Brooks also receives a Defense Attorney of sorts, who chooses moments from his life that show courage and love. Despite the movie fouling everything up, especially equating fear with self-denial and moral choices, there are some wonderful scenes that illustrate how debilitating and evil acting from fear is. In one scene, Brooks' character is shown to be in Elementary school and refuses to help another kid being bullied--refuses in a most despicable manner. Everyone in the theater watching this unfold squirms, especially the adult Brooks. It's rare to see such a depiction of shame on the screen.
Thank you Pr. Brown for a good reminder that perfect love casts out fear.
1 comments :
A very good reminder, indeed. Many thanks to Pr. Brown and to you.
I kinda think it works more the other way, though. That is, *perfect* love means we have already given everything away; and having given everything away, have nothing left to lose; and having nothing to lose, we have nothing to fear.
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