Fear vs. Love
By Jason Glaze
Last week I found myself in a discussion about what motivates people to move in God’s direction. As the discussion unfolded we began to unpack the damage that religion has done over the years by using unhealthy methods to try and reach people. One method that seems to be normal in some circles of the church is fear. Why is fear a normal method of motivation? Because it “appears” to work, but because of the damage it causes in the long run we really should take a step back and reevaluate things.
By simply observing human nature it is safe to say that if someone is afraid enough they can be motivated to do almost anything, and this is the reason that many people that I know decided to enter into a relationship with God. The problem with this is that years later they are still afraid of Him. I’m not saying that they are afraid of Him on a daily basis, but because fear is their point of origin that is what they often turn back to in order to describe why they feel like they are disconnected from God. They fear His judgement, anger, disappointment, etc.
I don’t know about you but I’m not going to run to someone that I’m afraid of, as a matter of fact I’m going to run in the other direction. Unfortunately that is what so many people are doing in their spiritual life, they are running from God.
What if we really knew that God loves us and that His perfect love drives away all fear? (1 John 4:18) If you need to, go back in your memory to the time when you were introduced to Jesus and realize that even though fear was being screamed from the pulpit, love was being whispered from God.
Jason Glaze
So very true. How wonderful it is to know God’s love is not given because we fear Him but because we are His. Sad that I had to learn this concept at your conference several years ago instead of growing up fearing God and not knowing that He loved me unconditionally. Now I simply “rest” in him…..Thank you for that!!!
Thanks for that!