Fear! One of the Greatest Opposition of Love

Fear! One of the Greatest Opposition of love

These days, a regular believer is not quick to help (entertain) a stranger. Many have become wary and weary of well doing.They are inhibited by fear. For example, a believer coming from a camp meeting drives pass another who waves at him for a lift, even though he has enough space in his car and apparently going a similar route, he would not stop to help, for the FEAR of many unthinkable things; from robbery, to ritualistic, to implicative happenings etc. Fear has crippled the love walk of that believer because of a cheap and distorted knowledge of God. God who is too powerful and faithful to fail.  

So the greatest enemy of love isn't hate but fear. Fear which is the believing of every other possibilities apart from the possibilities with God. The "what if this" or "what if that" cage is built by the love-antagonist, Mr fear aka Timidity, alias excuses popularly known as False Evidences Appearing Real, that I personally define as "Fabricated Excuses to Avoid Real Service"(F.E.A.R.S) for the sake of this context. And real service here means the good done to others out of love and compassion. By the way, fear has a cousin called Laziness, and these two often work together Pro 26:13 ( to slow down or completely put a halt to good WORKS (Yes! Lazy hates work) or LABOURS of love. But that's a topic for another day. 

There are primarily two love expressions that fear sabotages the most;

1. Love for others

2. Love for the appearing of Jesus.

I might not be able to fully unpack all these here. But I will say a few things.The Priest and the Levite in the story of the good samaritan (Luke 10:30-36) were possibly afraid they would be late to the function they were headed to or were much afraid for their own lives. At the root of the fear that inhibits men from loving others is actually selfishness, and sometimes pride. Anyone who is afraid to be selfless can never truly love because sacrifice is the language through which love is communicated.

In loving others indeed, we should never be afraid of being taking for granted or being vulnerable.

The second expression of love is to love the appearing of Christ. The coming of Jesus has been preached for so long to instill fear in people whereas believers are suppose to love His appearing, encourage one another with the news of His coming and even pray for His coming. (2Tim 4:8, 1 Th 4:16-18, 1 Cor 16:22)

Finally, fear is a product of certain information or misinformation we have fed ourselves on. If we intentionally begin to feed on God's love, His faithfulness and a true revelation of Him, fear will have no hold on us. Then we will be able to -"Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness."Ps.37.3, because "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Tim 1.7) and "Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that his love has not been perfected in us." 1John.4.18

Maranatha!