"Never let your fear decide your fate"

I heard a song on the radio when Andrew and I were running some errands. It was on a station I do not normally listen to. A phrase in the song caught my attention: “never let your fear decide your fate.” Looking it up just now on the internet, I found that the band’s name is Awolnation. I am not familiar with them or their music, and the rest of the song didn’t grab me, but that particular phrase was powerful.

How often do we do just that—let our fear decide our fate? That attitude is so much at play in the world. I’m not talking about a healthy awareness of risk. I’m talking about allowing our fear to get the upper hand in our lives. Fear got the upper hand when George Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin and ended up killing him.

Our fears may be small or they may be large. They may be justified or not. I would not intentionally expose myself to danger, but how often do I evaluate a situation as far more dangerous than it is simply because it is unknown and unfamiliar to me? Why don’t I look more with eyes and a heart of love and compassion? I really liked a meme I saw on Facebook last week: “I dream of a world where George Zimmerman offered Trayvon Martin a ride in the rain.” That would be a world where love and compassion take the upper hand.

1 John 4:18

Perfect love casts out fear.