Growing up for me, like many, was filled with many joys and many sorrows. My father was an alcoholic that stayed drunk for most of my life. When I was a little boy I would run and hide whenever I heard his truck coming down the road. I’d hide until my mother came home from work. Sadly, I have to say that most of the time my dad was home there was a lot of pain.

I remember one time when my brother was playing with his yo-yo, and it was irritating my father. He took it away and asked me where mine was. I told him, “I don’t know. . . I think I lost it,” but he didn’t believe me. So he threw me on the bed and began to shake me violently up and down by my shoulders until I blacked out. I thought I was going to die.

I never knew real love until Jesus Christ came and rescued me. Before that, most of my life was spent in fear. Growing up, I walked in fear every time I was around an older man. The fear became so great that I tried to avoid older men as much as I could. If the situation wouldn’t allow, I’d just tough it out and almost get sick.

1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” Fear keeps us from maturity, and the word “perfect” in this text means to come to complete maturity. Fear kept me from coming to complete maturity. Fear stunted my spiritual growth, and kept me from knowing some great men who could have had a positive influence in my life.

In Christ there’s no need to fear, the judgment has passed, there’s no need to worry. Jesus took the full wrath of God for us. Now we are free to not only experience Gods’ love, but to grow in His love and be conformed to His image. My father experienced this forgiveness. A few years before he died, Dad became a Christian, and asked for my forgiveness for all the sadness and grief he had caused in my life. It was only to be five years later that he would go home to be with the Lord, but during those years, I finally had the father my heart had always dreamed of.

If there’s something (or someone) in your life that has you bound up in fear, just run to Jesus. His perfect love will cast out your fear and you will experience the peace and happiness you are longing for.

In Jesus Name
Pastor Dan