Consider ye this; do you not understand that God is Love, and that Love is God? Fear is the beginning of wisdom, but it is only that - the beginning. To continue in wisdom you must put an end to fear, replacing it with love which brings with it the proper reverence that fear was once the foundation of. Love casts out fear, and replaces it with itself; and with itself, gives reverence. Like a new covenant over the old, Love replaces and expounds were fear was but a beginning whose purpose has long been served.
Fear is a bottle with a nipple, and Love is the big boy cup over flowing and gushing out its blessings upon the Earth…
Fear, there is so much about fear…
A theologian might say; “But if we do not fear God, then we fail to do him proper reverence!”
But to him I would answer; “Fear gives but a shallow reverence, a beginning, but Love is the Truth, and Love will give reverence in abundance where fear cannot ever give such. Fear cannot give but fearful reverence in scared trembling - a shallow self survivalist reverence; ‘do not smite me!’ Fear says, even the Devils tremble this way. But Love gives loving reverence that trembles in delight, full of freedom unhindered by law, by tradition, by doctrine, or by any created thing in Heaven or Earth or Beneath. Love gives the fullness of itself in reverence, as Love gave the fullness of Himself to us on the cross for our salvation.”
Fear then, is not to be kept when Love is gained. And Love should be sought so that Fear might be cast out. For Love casts out Fear, we were not given a spirit of fear, and therefore Fear - which comes up out of us by nature, must be burned out of us like the rest of our old man, to be replaced with the new! We are given a spirit of Love, and Peace, and all such good things as that, but fear is not one of them. Fear arises out of the old man, but Love that casts out Fear arises out of the work and Spirit of God that is poured out upon all flesh, and given to Man that Man might be faithful.
Fear not, but Love instead.
A theologian might say again; “But fear is what keeps me in line! Keeps me worshiping the proper way, and the proper God!”
To this I can only reply; “By refusing to give up fearing God, for loving God, you despise him in secret, quailing before God as if your loving, gentle father would abuse you cruelly. You are already worship an idol of your own making, more so than the happy Christians you call idolators in their freedom. You fail to be “in line” and you fail to be “proper” by failing to love Love, and move on from the old man and fear that is in his fallen, false, lie filled nature. God is Truth, and you won’t let Truth make you a new man and set you free, you fear to be a real, loving Christian, knowing the cost of it is your little dead thing you falsely call your life.”
Again he might object; “But what if, in casting away fear, we worship other gods? What if we get into evil things? What if I go down the evil path?”
I reply; “But you already worship those gods you fear to worship, when you put Fear in the Holy of Holies, rather than Love. God is Love, but God is never Fear. You set up that idol of desolation, and ruin - for what does worshiping fear bring but desolation and ruin? You honour Love with your lips, but you are far from Him. Love is God, Fear is not. Fear is the beginning of having wisdom, but Love is the Life who -is- Wisdom. Love will not steer you down any evil path, but only towards goodness and Love will be with you always where ever you go.”
Objecting once more; “But I fear to let go of fear, I might choose by my will to reject God, I might become lost!”
Alas; “The fruit of your fear shows itself of a wicked tree, for fear has made you fear and doubt the power of God to keep you, and it has made an idol of your free-will. If you will not give up fear, how can you ever hope to be faithful?”
It was the servant who feared the wrath of his master, who did not invest the talents given to him, but buried it instead. The servant was faithless, a “wicked slothful servant” and fear cost him more than freedom in love ever did.
Who amongst you has understanding of the truth, that a good tree bears good fruit, and an evil tree bears evil fruit, and that good fruit only comes from a good tree? What is good? That which is beneficial, positive, and produces the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and all good things like them; like creativity, and beauty, and generosity.
What does fear produce? Faithlessness, in the worst sense of the word. Fear produces the “get-me” fruit. “The Devil will get me”, “God will get me”, “Church will get me”, etc.
So, the Devil will get you? If you Fear, I dare say he already has you. God will get you? As far as you run away from Him who is Love, you can hardly say that much with a straight face. Church will get you? Good grief, paranoia is yet another fruit of fear, and a dangerous one!
What does Fear do, and produce in a Christian? Lets take for example, Pastor Reverend Demonhunter Van Heresyseeker; a man so full of fear that he seeks and sees the Devil in everything, and heresy in all that dismays him, or attacks his trembling foundation; exposing his fright, and showing full his faithlessness.
Do you find yourself incapable of enjoying something that did not specifically come out of a “Christian Tradition” or root? Is it because you’re afraid the Devil will get you, or that the Devil is in it? This is exactly the problem; it comes down to faithlessness. You can claim you are faithful to God, even faithful by being wary, but you show faithlessness in his power to preserve you, protect you, and be with you, and you show faithlessness by usurping his place in your heart with another god - fear, and your own will or power. You give more praise and exaltation to devils and demons than to the Lord your God when you give place to Fear, doubting the power of Love.
Let us take for example, yoga, a very common exercise. Very beneficial too; ah yes! And very controversial. You might find yourself cringing at the mention of the topic, you might find yourself seething, ready to proclaim me a Hell-bound heretic for what I might mention…you might even give me warning of the dangers…of this or that…Oh? Well, hello to thee thou fearing one. This has been for you.
Lets say a friend invited you to a yoga class, to exercise, and fellowship. You heard in your church that yoga is of the Devil and that the Devil and demons are in it, you may have even walked by a yoga class in progress and “felt something dark and demonic” about it - and so you refuse it. Why? Fear. The feeling you felt, if it were dark at all, is the idol spirit of fear in you saying “the Devil’s gonna getcha!” and so you listen to it! And you lose out on having fellowship with your friend, on witnessing opportunities, on sharing the good news, and on enjoying what in fact turned out to be a very benign and enjoyable exercise good for your body and soul. Turns out your pastor was either a liar, or he - as usual - got his facts wrong, because he was listening to fear that was taught to him and given to him by the higher ups of his order who decided to preach against this, and will preach against having coffee next week at your favourite shop because “they support gays” or some nonsense such as that.
As for churches; if they preach the message of fear, they are preaching a message apart from God. Love chastens better than fear does, I might add. Love will change a man’s heart, where fear will only, maybe, change part of a man’s actions. Love frees a heart to love and be good, fear will only bury it under loveless actions out of trembling, a pretending to do good.
Let me give you wisdom though, that Love will lead well; yes you can probably do yoga, and actually look at things like speaking in tongues (if you were raised as an anti-charismatic baptist) or other interpretations of the Bible, or even different translations! Without being afraid the Devil will beat God to the punch, or else that God and Devil will beat the living snot out of you.
But, Love is Love, and freedom is freedom to do good things, and enjoy every good tree in the garden. It is not freedom to be lude, and if you have common sense you’ll know the difference between yoga, and acupuncture (things outside of Western “Christian” Tradition, that are still benign and good) and having a stripper dance in your lap after swapping wives!
And also, if I may add; there is a difference between having a different view of God, and having an outright different god altogether. And I don’t say this lightly, or as some sort of weak tolerance age sort of religiousism. But as a fact. God is God, and so God is God. If someone worships God and calls him Jesus, rather than Yeshua, don’t get your hairs in a knot over it. God is a matter of worship in the heart, and a person who worships in the heart will worship in the mouth, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If God is in the Heart, God is the God of that man. Whether he calls him Yeshua, Jesus, Iosa, Isa, Iesous, Iesu, or Christ. Whether he believes God is a unitarian deity, or trinitarian, whether he believes God is a Mother also, or only Father alone. Who are you to call such ideas of God (especially if indeed it is God who is in the man’s heart) idols, if you cannot even get past your favoured house-hold idol-deity, Fear, out of your own heart? Pull the beam from your own eye, our Lord said. Pull the idol from your own heart, I say after his thought.
We are called to judge fruit, to test all things and hold on to the good. Therefore do so, and partake of good fruit from good trees, for all good things are of God.
Do not let Fear control you, for it is not of God. It is the fruit of the fall, for when Adam and Eve fell - they fell in fear and ran from God…Fear is the fruit of the evil tree within you, shaking before the awesome wind of God; but Love is the Tree of Life that will uproot fear and cast it down, and take root in the fertile soil of your new heart, and shake in delight under the wind of God, which is his laughter and his goodness, and his breath, and his Spirit, which bears good fruit in you.
Be blessed, and be fearless, and be faithful in enjoying all goodness, in Love.
Amen.