Musings on fear and love

Somewhere in the Bible it says that love casts out all fear. But what is love? The Bible is not silent. Paul states that love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...The Bible also states repeatedly in many different ways and places that God loves us and the whole world which I interpret to mean everybody. If all of these things are true and clearly stated in so many places than why do so many Christians live in fear in so many aspects of their lives???....This is not a theorectical question to me because the shadow of fear has always haunted my soul since I can remember and I ask why? No answer will satisfy everyone's soul and there is always an element of mystery when it comes to the deep matters of the heart. As I ponder the mystery of why Christians and all people entertain fear from time to time I can't escape the importance of experience. When we lack the experience of love in our lives than fear will take up residence in our hearts because fear's presence and power is restricted and limited by the abundunce of love. That is, if a person does not experience patience, kindness, and patience from others and if we do not grow up in a family who believes in us, or bears all things or endures our shortcomings and pain than fear will take root in our hearts....Over the years I have had numerous conversations with the shadow of fear that has taken up residency in my own heart and have seen and experienced the shadow of fear in the people in my life and I have noticed a pattern. When love is absent or minimal the shadow of fear usually roams as he pleases from room to room but where love abounds fear is restricted because love is always the master and fear the slave when the two are present in the same heart.....Does this mean that we all are bound to our past?...Limited yes, but fortunately not bound. We are bound to a large degree by our past and present experiences but fortunately for us love is not limited or restricted to a particular place or person. While my home life growing up was not filled with much love in many aspects I was fortunate to experience love from beyond my immediate family environment and for that I am eternally grateful.....The perfect antidote.... Jesus told us to love our neighbor and to the degree we love one another than love abounds and the shadow of fear becomes a faint background presence that we hardly notice....So let us love one another in what we do and than love will abound and fear will be cast aside....Bilbo