Love Dispels Fear

𝐉𝐀𝐍. 𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝟏 𝐉𝐧 𝟒:𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟕𝟐:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟑 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐊 𝟔:𝟒𝟓-𝟓𝟐

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐈, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟓𝟎) 

          In 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝟗:𝟏𝟎  it says: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦.” Those who have taken up psychology will tell you that their study of fear shows that it is a reaction to uncertainty, a response to physical and emotional situations and that it is also a natural response that moves both humans and animals into action to protect themselves from legitimate threats.

         What Solomon wrote in Proverbs was that wisdom was the effect generated by man’s fear of the Lord. It is a message for all of us that we too will have to feel that same kind of fear in order for the gift of wisdom to become operable in our lives. 

        Unfortunately, there are many things that people fear. They fear losing their jobs amidst the fiscal cliff that may throw the economy into a recession. Some have a fear of death and of getting sick. Still some fear about not having food on their table and there are those who fear just about anything in today’s post-modern world.

        Fear indeed takes many forms. Terror, as people in war-torn countries experience is a form of fear. Trauma as that experienced by the victims of calamities like the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu and typhoon Yolanda in Leyte is a form of fear and even more fearful is when you send people who are inexperienced in handling trauma will attempt to manage such trauma cases.

        Fear also gripped the Apostles of Jesus who were terrified when the strong winds they encountered tossed their boat from side to side until Jesus caught sight of them and when he got into the boat the wind sank, meaning the wind for one reason or another stopped blowing.

        There is a distinct parallelism in this passage and the strong wind that buffeted the boat with the Apostles with our own lives for there are many times when we too have to face fear as we confront these storms of life that pass us by.

        And for us to weather these storms, there is a need for us to identify these strong winds. What are these? How are these winds affecting our lives and our relationship with God. Our failure to identify these storms of life will not only put us at a disadvantage in terms of our relationship with God but it may also prove difficult for anyone helping us to weather these storms especially if we cannot qualify the storms in our lives. In the same way, it will also be next to impossible for us to remove our fear if we don’t know where it comes from.

        Could these strong winds be - failed relationships? Failed business transactions? Addiction, alcoholism? Unemployment? Debt burdens? Excessive smoking? Different forms of temptations? Gambling? Loss of a loved one? Disappointments and sorrows that we experience? Swindled? Turmoil in the family? Terminal disease? There are many more that cause an imbalance in our day-to-day life and we give in to fear when we don’t know how to confront them.

         When faced with such enormous problems in life, the only alternative is to call on Our God who made heaven and earth. The same God who will find himself being welcomed like a royalty as he enters Jerusalem, his popularity and credentials preceding him and yet 24 hours later, the same Jesus who was welcomed like a hero stood like a criminal before the Sanhedrin, Sadducees, and the Pharisees.

        It is important that we qualify which of the storms of life tend to overwhelm us so that when Jesus comes into our lives and provides us the balance that we need, he will do so in accord with our need. Fear inevitably paralyzes people as it stifles a person’s creative nature, but where there is love, there is no room for fear. Perfect love as that which is shared by God can cast out all forms of fear.

         In our life the winds that we experience normally blow against our faces and often we have trouble moving on. There are struggles we need to overcome and it is during these times that we can invite Jesus to come into our lives because when he does, the winds that we face will sink as with the storm the Apostles faced.

         And to call on Jesus we need to bring to him the so-called specifics meaning we must tell Jesus the type of wind we are encountering and what causes fear in us because Jesus is not a generic God whom we can ask for just about anything that we want. But the one definite message behind this passage was that Jesus will come when we ask for his help and he will as much calm the storms of life that we face.

         And we can draw the picture of the character of Jesus who will never let any believer down in the way that he kept Peter from sinking into the water. And this is basically what we should all do when faced with the same situation as that of Peter (𝐌𝐭 𝟏𝟒:𝟑𝟏).       

        In times when we imagine ourselves standing on the ledge of a 30-storey building, on a cliff without anything to hold on to, or when we feel like we are being swept by a strong undercurrent and we are possessed by fear, all we have to do is to cling to Jesus because he is the only one who could put stability into our lives.

        But when we call on Jesus to save us from sinking, remember too that we are also being called to take stock of our own lives for these winds or storms that we face may also be of our own making as these storms may have been caused by the untruthful life that we live.

        The words of Jesus in 𝐌𝐭 𝟕:𝟐𝟏 “𝐍𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.”       

        In other words, there may also be no need for us to call on Jesus to help us face the winds that we face in our lives if we will only heed his words that the Kingdom of Heaven is reserved only for those who will respond positively to the Will of the Father in heaven.

        And this was what Jesus liked with Peter who never let go of the hand of Jesus each time he fell and, in all likelihood, it could be these failures of Peter and his undying loyalty to Jesus that brought him closer to Christ. As it was said, a saint is a man who rises and moves on each time he fails. And this is what the Lord expects from us – a heart like that of the Apostles who feared the storm, but who remain anchored on their faith in Jesus.

         When we keep our faith in Jesus and when we hold on to Him and not let go of his hand during these storms of life that we face, we are assured of one thing – Jesus can work in us in such a way that we can all remove our masks and pretensions and stand before one another and God in the way that we stand before a mirror and see ourselves as we truly are, then there is no room for fear because love drives out fear. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘢𝘯. 7, 2026)