Love over Fear

For Jesus, giving His life in return for our freedom from sin was a daunting task. In fact, on the night before He was to be crucified, He wrestled with God, His Father, while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me” (Luke 22:42).

It’s evident His heart was torn between doing what He knew was necessary and being shadowed by the fear of what it required. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus “being in agony... was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Jesus wasn’t in agony over a little something; He was sweating drops of blood. That is a big deal! While I’m sure He was partly afraid of the physical torture that was coming, there was a greater fear. His crucifixion also meant separation from God.

He would bear the entire weight of the world, of my sin and yours, on the cross. And that meant that until His resurrection, His heavenly Father would turn His back on His Son. That perfect relationship would be severed. Physical torture is one thing, but abandonment can hurt even more.

So Jesus asked His Father if maybe, just maybe, there was another way. Yet, He didn’t park on that thought for a long time. Jesus’s prayer quickly continued, and He ended His tear-filled plea with the following: “Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This is what needs to be done, so I’ll do it.

Fear doesn’t make you give your life for someone else. Fear doesn’t make you run into a burning building to save your child. Oh sure, you may hightail it into that building afraid that something bad is going to happen to your kid, but your love for that child will overwhelm that fear.

Fear doesn’t make you take a bullet for someone. But love does. Let love dominate, the kind of love that we choose over our feelings, over peer pressure, over our selfish desires, over our fears, and over our disappointments.

When you want to be the most powerful or the strongest you can be, always choose love over fear.

What are you scared about today? How can you act out of love in that area of your life instead of out of fear?