Fear Will NOT Call The Shots

“People who are becoming love experience the same uncertainties we all do.
They just stop letting fear call the shots.”
~ Bob Goff, Everybody Always

It feels so natural to love some people. Ever meet someone and immediately think - I LOVE THIS PERSON! So easy, right? Whether it is shared interests, shared opinions, sometimes even shared space - we feel something right away. I love it when that happens!

On the other hand, we’ve probably all experience the opposite as well. We might call those people “hard to love” type of folks. Maybe they are very different than we are. Maybe their opinions and interests are completely opposite from ours. Sometimes the ONLY thing we feel like we have in common may be shared space (home, job, community, etc), and that is NOT a good thing.

Our natural tendency is to “love” these types of people from a distance. It’s understandable, but it is not ok. If we’re honest, we will have to admit that a driving force in our actions that keep those people at a distance is fear. That’s right, FEAR. Fear that they will react in a certain way. Fear that they will judge us. Fear that they will need too much. Fear that they will disagree with us. Fear that they will think as differently as we THINK they will.

Ever met someone who doesn’t seem to be bothered by all of the factors that make you want to keep your distance from those that are “hard to love”? It’s like they don’t even notice that so-and-so seems opinionated - or loud - or annoying - or different in whatever way or another. They just — LOVE. It seems so easy for them. It seems like they are not human!

In a way, I think that statement is correct. They are not human. Well, ok - they’re HUMAN, but they don’t LOVE from their humanness. Their love comes from somewhere completely different. Their love comes from the type of love that Jesus lived. It’s a supernatural love that comes only when we allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of us AND our love. It’s a child-like faith that sees the best in people, that sees beyond challenges. It loves people because they are people - no matter what kind of people they are.

So, let’s get beyond our fears of loving people - ALL kinds of people. Jesus wasn’t concerned about what people thought, what made people different, or what benefit the relationship might or might not bring him. He just loved. Everyone.

“If we take to heart Jesus’ words about having a childlike faith and not being afraid, they can move us from merely wishing things would get better for us to bearing up under the circumstances God actually gives us. They let us move from running away and hiding from our problems to engaging and embracing them. These words can fill us with quiet confidence and contagious hope. What’s crazy is when we’re not afraid and engage the world with a childlike faith, the people around us won’t be afraid either. Hope and courage do the same things.
When we let them, they’ll spread like a cold. A really good kind of cold.”
~Bob Goff, Everybody Always