Love vs Fear

Why does a boy ask a girl to marry him? Why have people in war zones spent the night almost totally submerged in jungle rivers? Before action is taken, there must be some kind of motivation. In the two cases above, a good assumption is love, and fear. One or the other of those same two emotions are quite often our motivation for serving God.

Both motives are recognized in the Bible. In Isaiah 29:24, Isaiah writes of God saying that when people witness the works of His hands, “they shall . . . fear the God of Israel.” That is, they will tremble. In Acts 5:11, after Ananias and Sapphira fell dead for lying to the Holy Spirit, we are told that “great fear came upon all the people.” The Greek word used here implies panic. So here are two instances in which fear was a motivating factor for people in their response to God. Additionally, using the same Greek word, phobos, in 2 Cor. 5:11, Paul says, “knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.” The Bible totally acknowledges fear as a motivating factor for God’s followers.

It also acknowledges love as a motivator. “The love of Christ constrains us.” 2 Cor. 5:14. Jesus said in John 14:23, “ If anyone loves Me he will keep my word,” and John echoes this idea in 1 John 5:3, “This is the love of God, that we keep His word.”

Is it possible that two very different emotions can achieve the same result? It would appear so. Fear can motivate a person to serve God by lighting a fire under them and getting them started on the right track. Jonah is a case in point. After first running from God to avoid his assigned task and consequently finding himself inside a “great fish,” he had a change of heart. He was delivered from his uncomfortable (to say the least) situation and literally “hit the ground running.” He covered three days worth of journey in one day and preached repentance at the same time. I wonder how much the same type of influence was part of the apostle Paul’s passion after his road to Damascus experience.

1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” Love originated with God, and it was directed to us, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Love can also start a person on the right track. Jesus said in John 12:32, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

However, while these two motivators, love and fear, can achieve some similar results, those results are not identical. We can see this in our physical lives. For example, when I was younger there were certain chores I was expected to do. I often had to wash dishes, and I really didn’t like washing dishes. But both of my parents were strict adherents to Proverbs 13:24 and they did not withhold their love from me when needed. I washed dishes out of fear, basically. That was also true of other household chores.

But I grew up. I got older and gained an understanding of the world that I did not have at a younger age. As a grown man, when at my parents house I was happy to wash dishes and do other chores that needed doing, not for fear of punishment, but out of desire to make their lives easier in whatever way I could. I was acting out of love. (Remember, the question love asks is, “How can I use myself to achieve something of benefit for you?”)

There is an interesting and important difference in being motivated by fear as opposed to being motivated by love. What you do our of fear is a drudgery. What you do out of love is as much a blessing to you as it is to the person for whom you are doing it. Doing work out of love for someone else, to ease their life situation, is actually uplifting and joyful.

Fear can create excitement, and that can be good, but it can also be bad. The wrong kind of excitement can arouse anger in people. Being motivated by fear can build resentment toward the task and/or the one for whom the task is being done. It can create ill will. Ultimately, it can lead to rejection and abandonment of the task and the one for whom the task is being done. This is true in the case of people to people and people to God.

These unfortunate results cannot occur when the motivation is love. Being motivated by love can cause a person to go the extra mile, to do more than what the original commitment started out to be. The nominal Christian who discovers a love for God, His Son, His church, His word may find himself teaching a Bible class because of a desire to increase the love of others. He/she may go out of their way in their efforts to be a good influence on others in ways that they would not even have noticed existing before. Love may cause someone to become a missionary, or to make other sacrifices.

The difference is growth and motivation. If our grounding is fear, we will be much like the one talent man in Matthew 25:14-30. He was afraid and hid his talent. That’s what fear will do to you. That’s not what the Christian is supposed to be or do. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He did not say “be afraid.” In Mark 12:30 Jesus’ answer to the question was, in a word, love. Love God, love your fellow man. There is no command greater than these. John tells us in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” So, we may begin our Christian walk in fear, but we need to grow (Hebrews 5:12) into love.

You cannot enjoy your walk with God if you walk in fear. God said that He would have great displeasure with the Israelites in Deut. 28:47, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything . . .” and then He goes on to list woes that will come upon them for not having joy and gladness in serving Him. If a husband only gives his wife flowers and a birthday card on her birthday because he feels he has to do it, how will she feel? Do you understand what God is saying?

If we serve God out of fear (which is equal to a sense of duty), then we can probably identify something else in our lives that we do out of enjoyment, that we love at the expense of our relationship with God. There is not room here to print Phil 3:1 - 4:9. It would be great if you would open your Bible and read it. Follow Paul’s admonition which demonstrates his love for God and his desire for you to follow his example. He gives information about how to follow his example as well. I can’t improve or add to what he says in those verses.

The more God is the object of our heart’s affection, the more we will know joy in serving Him and the less of a weariness (Malachi 1:13) it will be. We can help our love to grow by repenting and praying about things that have replaced God in our lives. We need to seek God’s help in growth through Bible study and meditation on His word. We need to spend time with those who are heading in the same direction - towards God, not away from Him.

We need to have the attitude of David in the following Psalms, the attitude of love.

Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Psalms 122:1, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.”