Meditation Monday - Don't Be Afraid
The Bible uses “do not be afraid “ or similar phrases like “fear not” approximately 365 times - one for each day of the year. It is one of the most frequently repeated phrases in the Bible yet so many followers of Jesus seem to live in fear, and the fear appears to grow every day.
We live in a culture of fear. In some ways it is not surprising as our DNA is primed with a flight or fight reaction to dangers that we are afraid of. Unfortunately, fear is often also generated by imagined dangers. The enemies we are afraid of are often more imagined than real. We are afraid of those who are different from us - people of different sexual orientations, people that look different and come from different cultures and ethnicity. Our flight or fight responses kick in when there is really no enemy to fight and we are often easily persuaded that there is an enemy we need to be afraid of when one does not exist.
Followers of Jesus often live in fear too. Fear of putting a foot wrong and earning God’s anger. Fear of not measuring up and settling for God’s second best. Fear of persecution real or imagined. Fear that others will not respect our faith. Fear that our loved ones will not go to heaven.
My own fears revolve around climate change, and economic insecurity and most of all fear of the future as my husband’s Alzheimers progresses.
It is easy to live in fear. Unfortunately fear magnifies fear and the consequences can be dire not just for us but for those around us too.
How do we overcome fear though? That is not an easy question to answer and the answers the Bible gives often seem confusing. The scripture that comes to minds is 1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love.”
“Perfect love casts out fear” - When I read that I usually think of God as the One who expresses perfect love, but as I thought about it today I found myself asking “how do I show perfect love to those around me?” Obviously we humans are incapable of expressing perfect love but we can work towards being more loving in the way we relate to others especially towards those who bring out our fears. The loving way to respond to someone who is from an ethnic or religious background that brings out our fears is with love and concern and an effort to understand them and their viewpoint. We adapt out of love not out of fear. We learn to move forward out of love and not out of fear, and above all else we learn to move forward not just towards the person we are afraid of but also towards God who is with us always and gives us the ability to react out of love and fear. As we are told in Isaiah 41:10 CEB
Don’t fear, because I am with you;
don’t be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
I will surely help you;
I will hold you
with my righteous strong hand.
When I met with my counsellor a couple of days ago he commented that love can look very different now from what it did years ago. The loving way to respond to my husband may look very different from what it did before his memory began to fade. The loving way to respond to a child whose life has moved in a direction we do not approve of looks very different than it did when that child was following in our footsteps.
No wonder we live in fear. Our separation from God at the Fall instilled fear in all of us. We ran away from God and have not stopped running. And the only way to remove that fear is to turn around and move close to God and trust in God once more.
Thank you, Christine. I especially like the idea that love changes as life changes. We talk about the constancy and steadfastness of God’s love. Perhaps God’s love even changes as our needs change. I certainly need God’s love for me in different ways in my 70’s than I did in my 20’s. Always there, always steadfast, and ever-changing according to our needs. Thanks be to God.
You raise such an important point about how fear, both real and imagined, shapes our lives and faith. The 365 "fear nots" in Scripture are indeed a profound reminder that God’s desire for us is trust, not terror.
I wonder if part of our struggle is that we often theologize fear rather than letting love dismantle it. When Jesus says do not be afraid, it’s never a dismissal of real pain (like your husband’s Alzheimer’s or climate anxiety) but an invitation to relocate our certainty, from the chaos around us to the God who holds us (Isaiah 41:10).
You’re absolutely right to say that perfect love casts out fear, but I’d add that this love isn’t just something we summon, it’s something we receive. The more we let ourselves be loved by God in our fragility (not despite it), the less power fear holds. Even in grief or uncertainty, love reshapes our vision. What if "moving forward" looks less like overcoming fear and more like letting God meet us in it?
Your counselor’s insight about love changing form is so wise. Perhaps that’s the heart of it: Love in the face of fear isn’t fearlessness, it’s faithfulness. "Do not be afraid" isn’t a demand... it’s a promise that we’re held, even when the ground shakes.