“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” - I John 4:18

Back in October I wrote this post for another blog... Someone commented on it today so I had a chance to go back and re-read it. Wow. Definitely something I needed to hear and remind myself about again. Just one piece of this gigantic Twilight Zone puzzle I've been dealing with this past week. Hope you all enjoy it too.

POST:
I don’t know about many of you, but it is really easy to be scared these days. In a world where war is not just something happening between nations across the ocean but between neighbors down the street, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of hiding under the blanket with our headphones and books, blocking out the world. How do we live a life of love when all around us Wall Street crises threaten our financial security, the divorce rate is at least half the rate of those getting married in a given year, and over 67% of Americans in 2006 were unhappy in their job situation? These American statistics and events give a brief glimpse into many of the social issues plaguing our world. Living a life of love means living a life without fear, living a life fully dependent on God’s goodness and mercy, living with complete trust that God will provide and protect.

John’s letter continues to say that fear has to do with punishment, so one who fears is not perfect in love. John hits it right on the nose - we punish ourselves by being afraid. We paralyze ourselves, and don’t believe in our true goodness and our limitless potential. We do not trust that God can work miracles, move mountains, and do all manner of great things in and through us by his perfect love. But humans are flawed. We try to do so much on our own. We try to be the strong ones, the brave ones, the intelligent ones, and we try to do this all on our own. We do not understand that setting high expectations is good, but counting on ourselves alone to achieve them is only going to set us up for failure. By committing ourselves to follow in God’s footsteps, we will not fail. We will continually be working for his greater glory, whether there are setbacks or detours or a straight-arrow path!

I didn’t meant to get so philosophical. I am not the most up-to-date on current events, but I do come across questions and quotes like this that get me thinking about society and how people, especially young adults, live and think and interact. We’re all about questioning and searching - trying to identify our life’s ambition, trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives and where God fits in. If we weren’t seekers, we wouldn’t be God’s people, striving to live a life of love.