Living in Fear

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     When the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the slaves of the southland, many of them trembled with fear, and shook with fright. So long had they been in bonds they recoiled from the responsibilities of freedom. They conjured up images of dire distress, and drew back from an uncertain future. Some of them requested their former masters to retain

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them in their previous status. They wanted the security afforded by dirt-floored log cabins, corn pone and hog jowl meals. They were unwilling to taste the privileges of free men and women. They were lost in liberty.

     There is evidence that many who have been reared in the narrow confines of religious partisanship, and who have been shackled by the factional spirit, are motivated by the same fear today. They have grown up in the security afforded by traditional walls. In a little group of exclusivists some of them have been regarded as leaders; their word became law and their decisions went unchallenged. In a world of free men they could not hold their own. They would be lost among those who did not tremble at their every pronouncement. So they would prefer to maintain the status quo, and retain their position of respect among those who regarded them as champions and defenders of the faith.

     The fear of loss of financial support holds many a man in chains to a partisan group. There are those who would like to breathe the pure air of Christian charity, but their jobs depend upon keeping in favor with the powers that be and that control the purse strings. Stark fear for their own wellbeing and that of their families makes the cold sweat pop out on them, for they realize they are selling a glorious birthright for a mess of pottage. But they must choke back the swelling of their hearts, for they dare not face what may be thought of them by those who have blindly followed them; they dread the whisperings, the malignant letters filled with false accusations, the boycott and the ostracism. It is easier to keep still, to go along, to continue to play the game, even while the world is on the brink of destruction.

     The fear which is so powerful a deterrent to freedom of spirit is manifested in many of the questions of the day. Is there not danger that the church will lose its identity? This is but another way of enquiring if the party to which we belong can continue to maintain its separate status. What would our fathers say if they returned to earth? Can we not just go along as we are, and ignore those about us, and live right, and go to heaven? How does it happen that we did not learn about the party spirit in days past and gone? Do you mean to infer that we could have been wrong in the application of many of the scriptures we have used over and over?

     The party spirit is subtle and tenacious. Satan is cunning! He does not want the children of God to pool their strength and efforts. He is opposed to them even discussing the possibility of unity. He wants them to believe that it is impossible to achieve. It is to his interest to keep brethren divided and warring with each other. "Cursed are the peacemakers," is the motto of Diabolos. But in spite of Satan, the party spirit, and the fear of men, there is a great tidal wave of Christian thinking and love which today is rolling wide and far. Men look up with hope who before were hopeless. The hate and bigotry of yesteryear are seen in their true light. The true meaning of love is driving out fear.

     "God is love, and the man whose life is lived in love does, in fact, live in God, and God does, in fact, live in him. So our love for Him grows more and more, filling us with complete confidence for the Day when He will judge all men--for we realize that our life in this world is actually His life lived in us. Love contains no fear--indeed fully-developed love expels every particle of fear, for fear always contains some of the torture of feeling guilty. This means that the man who lives in fear has not yet had his love perfected" (Translation by J. B. Phillips).

     Love fills us with complete confidence! We need to know that we have not the knowledge or ability to devise the means by which God's purpose on earth will be achieved. All we are required to do is to fill our lives with love, and in that spirit, carry on the task He has assigned us, without doubt as to the future. God holds the future in His hand. He has not retired or abdicated. I am convinced that regardless of opposition or persecution, I need have no fear, if I serve Him in love!