In my psychology seminar class I was asked what I want in life and what I fear. When I look at what I want in life and what I am afraid of in life, I think I see a close connection -many of my wants are my fears and many of my fears are my wants. I think the same is true for a lot of people. Personally there is an attraction involved in the things I am most afraid of. There is great excitement and also anxiousness of the uncertainty in taking on the things I am most fearful of, but I think the greatest, most motivating emotion is the sense of peace or comfort in knowing one of only two possible outcomes will be met. These two outcomes being either I will concur the fear and in turn experience a boost in confidence as well as competency or I will not concur the fear in this same confidence-boosting sense but at least there is always invaluable wisdom and understanding to be gained in facing fears especially fears of the unknown.
Of course there are two kinds of fear -one’s healthy and one’s hindering -and there must be some differentiation. I think it is very interesting to look at how both fear and love motivate us.
The fear of death paralyzes a lot of people to the extent that they can no longer fully enjoy life. Life must be feared more than death and until this is realized, life cannot fully be lived. What is more terrifying than a life wasted on worry, fear, and regret? The words spoken by a very wise man in a church in the Bahamas of which I attended last week still ring fresh in my ears: “I fear life more than I fear death.”
How can we possibly both fear life and love and enjoy life at the same time? It helps me to think about a raindrop and the ocean. Our lives are but tiny raindrops cascading into an endless sea. What we do with this incredibly infinitesimal iota of life matters greatly in the span of eternity. Living with an ever-constant, conscious fear of not doing enough in this life to further the Kingdom of God on earth is healthy. I am not advocating or supporting the position that it is all about doing good works that will get one into heaven. I believe it is by faith alone but genuine faith produces good works and real faith never lets the mind rest soundly enough to stop thinking about how one can continuously spread goodness. I don’t mean to create an image of a restless, paranoid, schizophrenic person here, I am rather referring to someone who has peace and comfort in knowing God has already worked out their salvation and, as a result, they are constantly looking to please Him by doing good to others.
Fear is very motivating thing. Why do we let it keep us from being loved and loving? Perhaps fear exists to helps us become more aware of love. I think we can learn a lot about love through fear and vice versa. Through fear we learn a lot about ourselves, through love we learn a lot about others. I think it is pretty essential to first experience a good dose of fear before a good dose of love begins to outweigh the fear. It is by first beginning to look at our own lives and becoming intimate with our fears -recognizing what we really fear and why we fear it -then we can eventually learn to really love. Letting go of this kind of fear is important in order to really love but we must always possess a reverent, awe-struck fear that motivates us to show nothing but love to our neighbors.
