Love vs Fear

I have been thinking a lot about love lately.  This is not unusual for me, but it has been weighing pretty hard on me in these last couple of weeks.  I wrote this book called A Vote for Love, and basically what I am trying to say in this book is that God put love in me the second I was born and ever since then, it has been my driving force.  It is why I am so passionate about things like art, music, cooking, baking, and of course, PEOPLE!  It is why I love the little things in life and why I love bright colours.  It is why I am mature, but I will never “grow up.”  It is why, in spite of all the various echelons of hell I have had to walk through, I have never given up.  What I say beyond that is that the world needs love in a desperate way.  

The reason this has been so impressed on my heart recently is because I have broken through my social anxiety and have started to get to know more people.  In so doing, I have seen that my initial thought from my book is so very true.  In the midst of people who are professing faith in the God of love are people who run away scared at the idea of real, honest to goodness LOVE!  I find myself to be very confused as to why people are so afraid of love.  I have one friend in particular and I told him that love is worth it.  He said that, knowing some of my story and hearing me say that love is still worth it is inspiring to him.  The frustrating part is that he says this, but he is still scared out of his mind.  

People often get the wrong idea of me when it comes to my love.  They think that I have some sort of ulterior motive, when all I really want is to be free to express the love that God has placed at the very core of my being.  Is that really so much to ask?  I have been witnessing over and over again how simple compliments are taken the wrong way, how words of love are withheld for fear of giving someone the wrong idea, and how physical affection is nearly equated with sin.  It honestly sickens me, especially in a Christian setting.  Where is the LOVE people?  What on Earth is the point of being freed and redeemed by Jesus if we are not going to allow ourselves to walk in that freedom?  We all need to get over ourselves and step into love.  As it is written, 

“⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.

 ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”  -  1 John 4:7-21

You can disagree with me ALL you  want, and you can say that my love is too much, but if you profess faith in Jesus, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding, in this case, is God’s word.  So with whom are you really in disagreement, me or God?  After all, it was not ME who came up with this love stuff.  He put it in me, so if you have an issue, take it up with the big guy!

Click HERE to read more of what I have previously written on this topic.

Thanks for “listening.”