Fear? Fear? There's no fear in fellowship!

The interesting thing about fear is the distance that it creates between the object feared and the subject fearing. Obviously this distance manifests itself differently in the differing relationships between the feared and the fearing. Fear of a physical object or place usually elicits an avoidance of that location or thing. Fear of a person elicits an appeasement and avoidance. Fear of a concept or thought elicits an avoidance of thinking upon it or engaging it...There seems to be a pattern. Avoidance.

Can there be true fellowship with avoidance? Is not avoidance the opposite of fellowship? We in the Bible see the first act of avoidance through fear just after Adam and Eve sinned. They hid. They avoided meeting with, fellowshipping with, communing with their Creator.

Is appeasement related to avoidance? Tangentially I would suppose. It is more the avoidance of the consequence of some direct or indirect engagement with the object of fear. For a gentile example there was the primitive practice of sacrificing something of value to the subject of fear (aspect of wealth, or even family member) to AVOID the god's wrath or displeasure that will result in the subtracting of some valued blessing such as rain or the addition of some curse such as plague. I also notice the sacrifice is not to bring a closer relationship -- fellowship -- but to keep the feared object away. If the object is appeased then the object will not disturb the fearing subjects plans, aspirations, and desires -- stay out of the way, avoid engagement.

It was often in this appeasement that the subject would hope the gods would stay in heaven or Olympus or whatever dimensionality they (or He) inhabited. So neither the god nor any of "its" agents would come to engage in disturbing the fearing subjects' lives.

There is another aspect of fear. The selfish component, already manifest above, but we'll develop it here. Fear is the apprehension, the thought, the feeling, etc... centered on the self's well-being, comfort, or certainty. This is why there can be fear without the application of any danger, discomfort, or change directly to the subject fearing. One can be fearful for another's well-being, but underneath is this selfish thrust because the self will suffer discomfort and loss from the other's suffering. But we digress...

So fear is distance, avoidance, and centered on self. What is its opposite? Love, obviously. As John so eloquently put it, "perfect love casts out all fear." Love is selfless (centered on the well-being of another, i.e. NOT YOU), engaging, and close. Sounds a lot like fellowship come to think of it.

So am I saying fear is bad? I don't think so. It's an emotion, it's a tool. Is fire bad? Well it depends on how it's used, and frankly, WHY it's used. Fear can be a great beginning to understanding. It gets attention, it focuses one. Most often we focus on the wrong things, true, but when we focus on the right things, or the right person then fear has done its job. As awareness leads to acquaintance which leads to trust and then finally love; fear naturally subsides. Perfect love CASTS out fear, all fear. Fear being cast out is fear subsiding, going away. As fear goes and love increases so does closeness, trust, and engagement.

Upon the ground of love, fear goes and fellowship grows.