While God is not afraid of sin or sinners, most of us are. We’re afraid of people’s mistakes, and we’re afraid of our own. It’s no wonder our entire society, including our court system, is set up in such a way that fear and punishment are the solutions to bad behaviour. And as long as we operate out of fear, we will inevitably continue to reproduce distance and disconnection in our relationships with God, others, and ourselves. The cycle can only be broken by repenting from the lie that we can control other people and by accepting the truth that the must control ourselves.
As soon as you begin to believe this truth and stop trying to control people, you’re going to be confronted with a lot of resistance from the old normal. And it won’t give way to Heaven’s normal without a fight.
This is because fear and love are enemies. They come from two opposing kingdoms. Fear comes from the devil, who would like nothing more than to keep you permanently disconnected and isolated. Love comes from God, who is always working to heal and restore your connection with Him and other people and bring you into healthy, life-giving relationships.
Fear and love have opposite agendas and opposite strategies for achieving them. They cannot coexist in a person, relationship, or culture.
God is very clear that the Spirit He put in you is not the spirit of fear, but the Spirit of love: “You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Excerpt from “Keep Your Love On” by Danny Silk