Fear: 

an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger; an instance of this emotion; a state marked by this emotion; anxious concern; reason for alarm (merriam-webster.com) Fear is an interesting dynamic. We become frightened in sudden random unexpected moments because of being startled by something perceived as dangerous. And fear can embed itself into our psyche so that it defines us because of prolonged exposure to repeated trauma. Humanity is in a state of fear, and our behaviors are revealing who we have become. Alarm creates panic. Panic creates fear. And fear drives response. Fearful is who we have become, therefore fearful is now how we have learned to behave. Fear drives survival instinct—we either fight against or flee away from what we fear. This is why so many today are depressed and angry—we are afraid. The depressed are recoiling away into inner shells while the angry are lashing out against with vehement aggression. Fear has become our pandemic. But perfect love drives away fear. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  ~1 John 4:18, NIV Perfect: 

being entirely without fault or defect; faithfully reproducing the original; expert, proficient; pure, total, complete, absolute (merriam-webster.com) We humans have failed miserably! All of us have failed. We do not possess perfect love because perfect love does not possess us. If it did, then we would be different people. But God has not failed! He is Love. He is perfect. He is perfect love. He has made Himself available to us from the beginning of time—and He continues. Yet we continue to be stunned by the catastrophic events we humans keep reproducing upon ourselves. And our answer to ourselves has been to keep fighting against each other for our own solutions. We act as if we are the solution. How can the source of the problem ever be the solution? The anecdote to fear is simple, but we don’t want to embrace it because doing so requires us to admit to our wrongness. And then it requires us to change. We are too proud for any of that.  But what if we tried? What if we tried “faithfully reproducing the original”? What if we tried embracing and becoming possessed by Perfect Love. Then what if we practiced it until we became expert and proficient at it?

I believe if we would perfect Perfect Love in our own lives as individuals we would stop being afraid and start behaving differently. The outflow would eventually reproduce, and then we would start seeing different behaviors from others. But it would require our efforts at relationship with the One who is Perfect Love. That would require our willingness to be reconditioned. And that would require our willingness to become different than who we are. 

I think we should try. Who’s game?