There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
Our Land Rover skirted clumps of thorn trees along Lake Kariba, between Zimbabwe and Zambia. We left at sunrise in hopes of spotting a cheetah reported in the area. As the hours passed, I satisfied myself with sightings of elephant, hippopotamus, and waterbuck. After all, I’d already seen cheetahs in the zoo.
“A cat drug something there.” The guide pointed at tracks.
We fell silent, and my pulse increased. The cat signs led to a herd of grazing impala. Apparently, the cheetah was on the hunt. We parked downwind and scanned the savannah. Through binoculars, we spotted the mother cheetah, nearly invisible camouflaged in the bushes. Two cubs played behind her.
Seeing the world’s fastest land animal in a zoo is not the same as seeing her in the wild. The zoo paints the enclosure with fake scenery, and manages the inmates with poles and nets. The animals languish in despair, or pace in fear.
Satan is the temporary ruler of this world, and he goads us into captivity with fears—fear of rejection, fear of suffering, fear of death. His trepidations jab our thoughts until we snarl and claw at each other. He cages us inside walls painted with false pleasures, and tells us his zoo is life at its fullest.
Jesus snatches the stick from Satan’s hand and breaks it. Through the sacrifice on the cross, I’m accepted by God, and fear of rejection disappears. No trial is too great for me to handle with his strength, so fear of suffering evaporates. And death is not death at all, but birth into true life—no fear there.
The stick is gone, and the painted barriers are crumbling. I can see past my cage into the blue skies and free plains of real life.
Prayer: King Jesus, don’t let fear control me.