It feels like I’ve finally fully opened up to Jesus in a way that has left room for Him to work. Room for Him to point out moments when I’m slipping away from being Christ-like and relying on hiding behind a wall of fear.
Fear of mankind. Fear of failure. Fear of being disliked. Fear of not being enough. Fear of not doing enough. Fear of terrible punishment for my sins. Fear of being undesirable. Fear. Fear. Fear and, wait for it! I might surprise you... Nope, sorry. More fear.
I have realised that on the journey to becoming more Christ-like I need to be courageous. To be brave. What is important to note is that being courageous and brave isn’t necessarily being free from fear.
At least for me it’s not. Being courageous and brave to me means acting in-spite of the fear. It’s knowing that you shouldn’t be paralysed by fear. It’s knowing that even in your fear, God is saying to you, “Be brave. I’ve got this. I’ve got you.”
That’s when the fear dissipates. That’s when you can truly be courageous, brave and strong. You have to acknowledge your weaknesses and submit them to the only one who can give you strength instead.
Therefore, loving God is a key to severing the ties that fear has on you because loving Him can tie into knowing Him. Knowing Him and His word can comfort you when you feel the tendrils of fear wrap around your heart. However, knowing this doesn’t always push you to give up all your anxieties. At least for me, it doesn’t.
I’m consistently hurting myself on purpose because I haven’t learned to love myself just yet. Yes, loving yourself is also a key to severing the ties that fear has on you.
When you love yourself, you are less likely to feed into emotions that bring you pain. You begin to understand that you are human. That you are going to be afraid, and that’s okay. You are going to be disliked, and that’s okay. You are going to mess up, and that’s okay. When you love yourself, you start to understand that the fullness of love has no fear. God ruins fear, and when you love yourself, you will be more likely to let Him ruin it so that it can never bother you again.
Last and not least, loving others has a part to play in letting go of fear and letting God ruin it forever. I’m still learning how to love myself, which means that I am still learning to love others too! But I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is leading me with this word about loving others and how it can play into the ruining of fear.
When you love others, I think that means you stop imagining the worst about them. You stop believing that everyone is out to get you. You stop having preconceived notions about race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and so forth. You stop feeding into negative stereotypes and hating people you have never taken the time to get to know.
When you love others, you stop fearing them. You stop treating them like “other” and consider them to be like you. Human and flawed, but so fearfully and wonderfully made. You are dearly loved, and so are the people in your sphere of influence. Therefore, loving people can stop fear from stunting the meaningful connections with people that God intended you to make.
So in conclusion, love God, love yourself and love others and fear will be ruined. Remember that fear has no hold on you, God’s grace owns that ground. His grace owns you now, so don’t be afraid. Additionally, remember that love never brings fear.