It's always interesting to me how God works things out. I've been contemplating the issues of love and what it means and what it looks like. I've also been thinking about fear and why it has such power to hold us back from doing things that we want to do or feel called to do. Last night there was a speaker at church from Church on the Street in Atlanta. His group ministers to the chronically homeless on the streets of Atlanta. He was speaking on what it means to love your neighbor. He was saying that in order to love you neighbor you need to know and be with your neighbor. You have to be willing to get dirty. You have to use your resources. It was a very challenging message that really made me think.
So when I went running this morning this is what I was thinking about. I was contemplating why fear is a stronger motivator than love. You'd think it would be the other way around. If love is everything, than you'd think that it would trump fear and we'd be obediant. After all we serve the Creator of the universe. If He can't protect us or isn't with us each step of the way who is or will ever be. Funny thing is....while God never leaves us He also doesn't promise bad things won't happen to us. This is where the tricky part comes in. This is where we realize that we could be hurt. This is also where we realize that fear comes in. But than I was thinking fear actually isn't really a great motivator. It's almost like your not doing something becaue you are afraid, but usually when I'm not doing something because I am afraid, I'm mad and resent that fear because it's keeping me from doing something I want to do or feel called to do. Love on the other hand makes us want to do something because we truly care about it and want the best for whatever it is.
Than I was thinking....okay....how do we grasp on to the love and replace the fear. It just so happened I looked up at that point and a morning dove landed on the fence next to me. That made me think of the Holy Spirit and that made sense. We can't have love and get rid of the fear unless we tap in to our resources. God is still with us. His Spirit is with us every day guiding us and loving us and showing us which way to go and what to do. He hasn't left us to beat fear on our own. He is with us.
The really funny part was that I than started seeing all of these birds. It made me think than about the scripture in Matthew 6 where it talks about God providing for even the sparrows. He will provide for my needs. I am free to love my neighbor because God loves me and is providing for my needs. He hasn't left me alone but given me His Spirit to comfort and guide.
So than the funny thing is these birds started swooping low and I thought they were going to run into me. Suddenly I started thinking they might be bats which I'm deathly afraid of. It was ironic because I needed to finish my running but I thought about giving up because I was afraid. It was kind of like.....okay.....this is what we've talked about but do you really get it. Are you really ready to trust Me. I think God has a sense of humor.
So that's what I thought about today. Perfect love should be able to cast out fear. That means I should be more motivated by love than fear because my Father loves me.
Thoughts for the day to continue to ponder.
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