At the end of the day, there are only two motivations for all actions in the human experience. Only two. Fear or Faith. That’s it. It’s that simple.

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were like, “This fruit will make us wise? A wisdom God wasn’t going to give us? He’s been holding out on us!” They were afraid they were missing something. They didn’t have faith anymore.

Then, after the ate the fruit, they were really living in fear. “Oh no, I’m naked! I’ve got to cover up!” And we’ve been living to cover up our shame ever since, out of fear of being exposed.

Fear says, “I have to take care of myself before I help you, because otherwise I won’t have enough.” Fear of failure. Fear of being known. Fear of being alone. Fear of being rejected. Fear of not being loved.

Faith says, “I can afford to sacrifice this for you, because I know God will make it up to me.” Faith God will provide even though we can’t see it. Faith it will be ok even though we don’t see how or when. Faith through uncertainty. Faith we are loved.

All negative, sinful actions are motivated, ultimately, by fear. So when someone’s being a hurtful jerk, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what they’re afraid of. And what you can do to serve them, bless them and disarm their fear. When we realize this, we treat people differently and it works.

Have you experienced this? Has someone disarmed your fear? Have you disarmed someone else’s? Tell us in the comments your experiences.