Motivated by Love, not Fear (Wednesday, Week 29, Year 2)

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At one time or the other, it is either we are afraid of what may naturally or unexpectedly happen to us or afraid of what some person(s) may do to us. A parent is afraid of what may happen to her children or what her children may cause him/her, and so on. An employee is afraid of what the employer can possibly do to him or her at any given time. A business man is afraid of what may happen to his business, afraid of bankruptcy, afraid of losses and damages, and so on. Sometimes, we either live or work or co-exist in fear. This becomes more disturbing when our “fear” mentality begins to badly affect our relationship with our loving heavenly Father. 

In the gospel reading, a story was told of a servant/steward who went gaga, drinking, eating and beating up other servants because the master was not around. If his master was around, he would not have misbehaved. Out of fear, he would have behaved well. Many of us have chosen to live righteously, not out of their love for God, but because of a certain fear of last judgment and the fire of hell. When negative “fear” becomes the reason for our Christian witnessing, then we may not have truly loved God as we profess. It is said that “Perfect love casts out fear”. God first initiated love by loving us first, forgiving us our sins, offering us His life and filling us with abundance of gifts and heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus. Generosity demands that we reciprocate God’s generous love towards us by living accordingly and loving others as God loves us. And that is why the gospel story concludes with this statement: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand more” (cf. Luke 12:48).

God has been so generous and loving to us that He has even revealed to us the “mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations” (cf. Eph. 3:5). On the basis of generous love, I think God has the right to expect from us a loving relationship with him. If we begin to love God more than we fear hell, we will be consistent and more authentic in virtuous living and in witnessing to God’s love.   




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