Land of the free, home of the scared?

I don’t know about you but I hate finding out I’ve been manipulated. Weirdly though, even though we all probably feel that way, sometimes we are willing participants. We seek out videos of soldiers surprising their families or tune in to a Hallmark movie, tissues in hand. We toss those end cap or eye-level groceries into our carts or buy that expensive eye cream because it made the photoshopped model look so young. And while the anti-Kondo urge to acquire newer and better things wreaks its own kind of havoc, the use of fear as a manipulator is the one that I want to denounce the loudest.

Fear is powerful – it makes us lock our doors at night, leave the restaurant flier under our windshield wiper as we drive away, and lock our doors while pumping gas. Those last two probably only apply to women who read the scare stories on Facebook, but the way that fear specifically affects my gender is a subtopic for another time. And while fear can be a gift (thank you Gavin de Becker) we often ignore the helpful signals and choose instead to focus on the irrational. I know this is nothing new, but it seems to be much more prevalent lately – or maybe I’m just paying better attention. Among the things I’ve been told to fear are caravans of immigrants, Mexican gang members, Muslims, public school indoctrination, transgender attacks in Target bathrooms, and the confiscation of my (non-existent) weapons. Without a doubt there are genuinely scary people in our world, and protecting children from legitimate threats is a parents job, but I wholeheartedly reject being told to live or vote based on my fears.

It is in my understanding of who God is that I find my best reasons to push back against the fear-mongering. To be honest that’s why I get the most frustrated with people of faith who sometimes seem to be so easily swayed by the fear du jour. Christian friends, we place our trust in the God who created the heavens and earth, drove out demons and conquered death. While we were never promised an easy existence we should know that we never face anything alone. The decisions we make about our life and who/what we vote for should not be based on what we’re told to run from. Fear didn’t keep Daniel out of the lion’s den, his friends from the fiery furnace, or Jesus from the cross. And it shouldn’t keep us from welcoming the stranger, visiting the prisoner, or loving our neighbor. In fact when our first priority is love of God and others, we will be less tempted to fall into the trap that the fear-peddlers set out for us. Because when it’s all said and done, I don’t want my life to be centered on what I am afraid of, and (be honest) neither do you.