An aside on fear and love
What if living with a heart and mind set on Christ is the cure to living with our hearts and minds controlled by fear?
Recently Carey Nieuwhof interviewed Philip Yancey, author of the book What is so Amazing About Grace? It’s the 25th anniversary since the release of the book and Yancey is re-releasing this book, which has sold over 2 million copies, with updated examples and content.
As I’ve been reading and studying through 2 Timothy 1:7, my ears have been more attuned to people speaking about fear (for God has not given us a spirit of fear…) and love (but a spirit of power, and love, and sound mind). Yancey does just that at the 17:08 minute mark of the podcast ( ). He says:
Love and politics don’t go together very easily. And when people are afraid, their first response is not love, usually. It’s pull up the barriers and define ourselves against something. And I think that’s the period we’ve been in the last couple decades
Philip Yancey, CNLP 614, 17:01-17:20
When we think about the spirit God has not given us, He has not given us one of fear. But, if we’re honest, many of the collective decisions Christians have made over the last couple decades have been rooted in fear. And, today, many of the decisions we make are rooted in a similar place.
We fear the loss of the “Christian nation.”
We fear the loss of power.
We fear the loss of access.
We fear the loss of control.
We fear the possibility of actual suffering for Christ.
We fear the overwhelming capacity of our culture for their expertise in messaging and selling a product.
We fear people leaving Christianity.
These fears have led us to argue about…the type and volume of music and kind of instruments in the worship service, the color and shape and style of chair, the color of wall paint, the number of stairs a platform should have, whether or not we should try to attract people to church or preach hell-fire-and-brimstone, and so on the fights go.
What if we held out a gracious posture toward the culture around us? What if we sought to understand and ask questions before we got worked up and so angry we couldn’t even sit in the room with someone who differs from us? What if we cared about individual people and sought to engage individuals in conversation, in relationship, and pointed people to Jesus through our love for the people He loved?
What if this is what Jesus had in mind when He came to be “Immanuel”? What if the life of Jesus was meant to be the example for us to follow, not just in His faithful following of God the Father but in the way He interacted with and loved the sinner, the tax collector, the fisherman, the shepherd, the Samaritan, the demon-possessed, the aimless crowd, the prostitute? What if we graciously engaged the world around us with our hearts full to bursting with the love of God because of the spirit God has put in us? What if that is the way we can share the Gospel with the world?
What if living with a heart and mind set on Christ is the cure to living with our hearts and minds controlled by fear?
Great word, Ben! Thanks for sharing that. Anytime we can be reminded that fear doesn’t get to have its way is a good reminder. I appreciate your questions at the end that lead us to imagine the business that God may be up to in the world. Thanks.
Yes! Thank you.
Kerry