There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear.
--1 John
4:18
Fear
cannot reside where love is. In the same way that light, by its very presence,
drives away darkness, true love chases away fear.
As
children, we played Hide-and-Seek.
I remember feeling a strange dread while hiding in corners of dark closets. I
could hear the IT coming close
and I would try not to breathe. Fear of being exposed was a little too gripping
for a simple child's game. If the IT might
just pass me by, just this once, I'd bolt from my hiding spot in hopes of
reaching Home Base. There at Home Base I could stand and face
the IT with no fear - no fear
of exposure, no fear of being caught, no fear whatsoever.
As adults
we play Hide-and-Seek. The game is
more covert. It is mostly internal. And it is not much of a game. We hide in closet
corners of our own construction. And in the darkness, we fear being
exposed.
Ironically,
in this version, there is no IT.
Maybe better - the hiding itself is the IT.
Lastly, lest I stretch the analogy too far, Home
Base is not a static destination. Instead, our Home Base is a person. He is a person
both to whom we run for refuge, and who seeks us out, even when we hide in
shadows.
His light
exposes us. But just as darkness races away when light invades, fear fails when
love enters the scene. Fear becomes memory, and at Home Base we find freedom.
Jesus
said, "I came to seek and save that which was lost," (Luke 19:10).
That includes us, hiding in the shadows of our closet corners. He seeks us out
and he shines darkness-defeating light into our lives.
Where
light is, darkness cannot be.
Where
love is, fear cannot be.
Where
Jesus is there is light and love.
God, forgive me of my closet corners. Be my Home
Base.
For
now...
D
