Post-Election Fear

I was astonished this week to hear Wal-Mart pulled guns and ammo off their sales floors, saying “We have seen some civil unrest and . . . we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution” in case stores are broken into and looted.  In addition, there seems to be a whole contingent of people who are expecting violence and rioting after the election. 

This is a sad place we are in.  I’m not surprised people are anxious about election results; there’s a lot at stake for particular groups of people.  But to be fearful leads us in a bad direction.  Fear makes people self-protective, paranoid, jumpy, assuming the worst of others.  Fear causes people to make bad decisions because they are acting in the interest of self.  I’ve read so many tragic stories where someone killed a family member in fear, thinking it was a prowler.  Fear seduces us into believing we can’t trust others, and trust is ESSENTIAL for a democracy to operate.  Ponder that a minute.  If we assume the worst of others, especially the other political party, we can’t sustain a democracy.  

Fear is not of God.  2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”  Christians can’t be self-protective because we have died to our self.  You can’t kill a dead person, so there’s no reason to fear.  God has given us a spirit of love, and that’s how we are to see other people.  God looks on you with love.  He has empowered you to turn right around and look on everyone else with love.  Not fear.  Not paranoia.  Not assuming the worst.  

Fear can become like a self-fulfilling prophecy because if you react toward others in fear, they can live up to your expectations. They sense your distrust of them, so they distrust you and become self-protective and project a negative energy toward you.  But if you expect the best of people, you often get the best, because they sense your trust and love of them and live up to that, treating you with acceptance and enthusiasm.  

So, unfortunately, the fearful people may see their expectations and fears corroborated just by their being fearful.  Fear breeds evil in this way. 

What’s the answer here?  If you are actually fearful, you have got to do what God commands and love anyway.  Act in love even when you don’t feel it.  Assume peace and good will in others even if you don’t feel it.  Even if it could make you the victim, do it anyway, because that’s what Jesus did.