The Gift of Fear

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” (1 John 4:18 NLT)

Have you ever considered what fear causes us to do? It can create emotional walls that shut people out to protect us from being hurt. Fear can cause some to enforce extra constraints to protect and prevent loss. If you look deep into a controlling, worried, and even angry person, you may see fear as their motivation. It might be fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of shame, or fear of being hurt, but it is fear at the core.

The antidote for this fear that lives within us and causes us to do some awful things, believe it or not, is love. However, it is not just our love but the perfect love we embrace. Better said, it is the perfect love of Jesus. His love is the only perfect love. This love is the life of Jesus living within us. This life within us drives fear to its knees and out of our life, and the fruit of peace follows.

Now for our Christmas gift. I have discovered that I cannot out-give the Lord. When I give Him something, He gives back something even greater than my gift. For this reason, I ask that we offer our second gift to Jesus as His birthday present. Let’s embrace His perfect love deeply into our hearts and give Him those things we fear. Let’s entrust those fears to Him as if they were present in a gift-wrapped box and placed under the tree. Take joy in wrapping it up and putting His name on it. Give it to Him without reserve. He wants us to do this, for He wants to get out of us the thing that is getting in the way of the courage He will infuse in us. Now isn’t that a gift exchange that you want to have? You give Him your fear, and He gives you His courage. What a deal!