Why You Need Not Fear

                                      

Fear is one paralyzing vice that underlies every insecurity. We fear so many things, the good and the bad. Some of these are;

• Bad things; accidents, sickness, death, poverty, rape, murder, thieves etc. There is little we can do about these. Being careful and living right go a long way in reducing the chances of several of these from happening to us. Some of them, like death, are inevitable. We would do well in learning how to live with them.
• We fear the unknown(all other categories fall here as well); Darkness, days to come(like events planned), moments to come, what others think of us, what others may be doing behind our backs etc. The best we can do about these is be still and know that the LORD is God, and He will be exalted even in those circumstances. (Psalms 46:10.) And all of the time, it is all in your head, pure imagination! It is therefore not valid. Just relax. Everything will fall in place just as it should because God is in control.
• We fear joy; Because we think if we rejoice or feel happy about something, something bad will suddenly happen to it. That is such a waste of beautiful chances because when that thing finally goes or ends, you will wonder why you did not enjoy it.(Phil 4:4 "Rejoice in the LORD always, I say again rejoice). And always remember, joy comes from thanksgiving. When you thank, you feel grateful. And when you feel grateful, you rejoice.
• We fear scary things; snakes, spiders, cockroaches etc 
• Many of us have a deep seated fear of success; We say we want it but we fear what will come with it. We feel guilty of the prospects of looking better or being better than others, and wrongly so. When you succeed, you encourage others around you to succeed as well. We fear that bad things will happen when we succeed, like being estranged to loved ones...etc. We fear that we will lose our investments and therefore feel safer staying where we are.

Of all the reasons of fear there are; non are justified (maybe the snakes.. hahaha) because we fear what we do not know. There is no need to fear what we know. So why do we carry such a heavy heavy burden, for no good reason? 

There is an antidote though; Love. 1 John 4:18"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" The fear of punishment in this context is about judgment day, fear of going to hell. And here, the love of God sets us on a path that leads to life. When you purely love your neighbor, the love for them will override the fears that may come up about them. When you love what you are doing, the fears about it will be pale in comparison with the fulfillment of following through with your passion. Love for God will push you to do the right thing albeit the 'consequences'. and so on and so forth. Love overrides fear.