- Jul 3, 2023
- 3 min read
"Also we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them. Here is how love has been brought to maturity with us: as the Messiah is, so are we in the world. This gives us confidence for the Day of Judgment. There is no fear in love. On the contrary, love that has achieved its goal gets rid of fear, because fear has to do with punishment; the person who keeps fearing has not been brought to maturity in regard to love” (1 Yochanan (1 Jo) 4:16-18 CJB). A long time ago in my life I had a difficult time reconciling the God I read about in The Bible with the way God was presented on the pulpit by many preachers and adopted by their congregations. I can remember as a child being scared of God after one of these sermons, and there were many. And I found those people constantly looking for reasons to make me afraid all throughout my life. Fear in the church drove me away from the church. Fear made me question Christianity. Fear made me look for another way. And fear led me back to Him.
When the plague hit, I was afraid like many folks. I was afraid that the plague was going to take us out. I was afraid that the supply chain problems were going to cause my family to starve. And fear led me to realize that I was tired of being afraid. Folks had been using fear to control me for way too long. And I was tired of having another reason to be afraid. So, I undertook a journey to no longer be afraid. And that journey started with fixing my supply chain. That journey continued with fixing my health. And that journey continues with knowing a loving God.
I spent a lot of time studying and teaching influence over the last decade. Knowing a lot about influence does not make you immune to influence. It does allow you to see when it is happening and recognize how it is making you act. Influence is a human art form that we use consciously and subconsciously. And I was tired of folks having the power to influence fear into me. So, I made a lot of changes.
And I learned that God does not want me to be afraid of Him no matter what I heard from the pulpit or what other folks tried to tell me. Churches wanted me to be afraid. Pastors wanted me to be afraid. BUT God didn’t. When He created people, it was to share rulership with them. He spent all this time trying to fix the relationship we broke. He died to mend that relationship. That does not sound like God trying to scare me. That sounds like a God that wants me. A God that would do anything, including die for me, in order to fix the broken relationship. That sounds a lot more like a loving father than a boogeyman.
I got tired of being afraid. I have come to accept that there is nothing I can do to fix my relationship with Him. He fixed the relationship. There is nothing I can do to be worthy of His love. He gives that love to me regardless. What I can control is how I live after understanding that He loves me. And I choose to live like He loves me.
Grace and Shalom to your home.
I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!