“Perfect love casts out fear” reads a phrase from sacred writings. 

As a close friend pointed out, “fear casts out love.”

Indeed. 

But fear is even more pernicious than casting out love (acceptance, inclusion, empathy).

Fear twists. 

Distorts. 

Fear prevents and  perverts.  

Fear hi-jacks thinking. 

It injects toxins, destructive toxins into what may have been a healthy  thinking process. Possessing no limitations or boundaries, fear invades, dominates, floods every nook and cranny of the psyche (in people and groups and sadly, even churches) and leaves no room for reasonableness, compassion, empathy or love. 

It ultimately renders the fearful inhumane.

Jesus oft’ repeated “Do not be afraid,” 

He said it when His followers were at points of potential high-reactivity and much  under stress, duress.

When anxstress. 

Anxstress is a term one of my sons coined when he was about 8 years old and we have used it ever since. 

I do not believe this repeated  Admonition from Jesus was only words of comfort. They were much more. They were words of comfort but also words of correction, encouragement, and protection. They were words of protection from what fear does and does so well. 

 It destroys. 

Fear works from the inside and destroys people and then it destroys friendships and deeper relationships, even long term family relationships, even churches  

“Do not be afraid” were much more than words of comfort.

Jesus was doing His best to keep us humane.