“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18). We should not think of fear as some tangible thing that perfect love ejects from the building. Rather, if we picture ourselves standing in front of the radiant brilliance of perfect love, then fear would be the shadow that the blazing light of perfect love casts out behind us. When our eye is single to the glory and the love of God, then we have nothing to fear. But if we turn our gaze away from our Savior Jesus Christ and cast our eyes behind us, then we will see the shadows of fear stretching out before us. Choosing to focus on our own self-centered concerns and desires will invite all kinds of fears into our lives, because when we are not looking towards Christ, then we are not looking towards the light but instead looking towards the shadows where the fears lie in wait. A shadow is a dark, flat, substanceless, often distorted outline of something that is real. But the shadow itself is not real. It has no color, no texture, no solidity. In the same way, our fears and insecurities are not really real, nor are they in any way accurate images of ourselves. Of course if we project a flat and distorted version of ourselves into the darkness, we can feel that we are inadequate to the challenge ahead and lose all hope. But the shadows of our fears are not the same as the wonderful, powerful, solid, real version of ourselves. If we are surrounded by fears, then that is because we have turned our backs on the brilliant light of our Savior's perfect love, and the light is casting out shadows of fear in front of us. The simple solution is to turn back around. As long as we look unto our Savior in every thought, we will doubt not and fear not, because there will be nothing between us and the light of the perfect love that could cast out a shadow of fear upon us. I hope that we will keep ourselves pointed towards the light and away from the shadows of fear.
