Over the past couple of decades, there has been a shift from fear-based parenting to trust-based parenting. Fear-based lists consequences first, hoping that with a threat, someone will do the right thing, but it inevitably creates doubt and does not allow children to explore and cultivate their sense of self. Trust-based indicates that through kindness, security, and safety, kids will follow through on the trust they experience and do good. Trust-based begins to give the child freedom to explore, to trust their instincts, and learn from their mistakes. Now I am not a parent, so I don’t know the ins and outs of making parenting decisions. But this is what the Gospel does: it offers us a trust-based model, showing us that love motivates us to pursue goodness. Any of our goodness that we do comes out of the relationship of trust and security that is established from the love of God.

This world is filled with things to fear, in the midst of that, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross offers us hope because we have experienced such a powerful demonstration of love, enabling us to persist in our weary world, even in the face of great trials (v. 23-24). That sacrifice allows us to live a life of faith and love rather than one of fear and control.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we hear of their fear, as the suffering they have experienced is experienced as insults, affliction, and theft (v. 33-34). This fear-based reality invites them to recount the punishments that will be put on those who insulted and mocked Jesus, judgment, and vengeance. The telling of consequences is a natural reaction we have when we find ourselves in fear. I find myself hoping and longing for consequences to befall people today who bring about wickedness and cause harm to those whom I care about.

But the Gospel points us to something more profound. Hebrews invites us all to remember the good news of Jesus, which invites us to receive love and respond by giving love. The churches we hear of were motivated to have compassion on those who hurt them, visiting them in prison and “cheerfully accepting” those who stole from them (v. 34-35).

We are called not to shrink back to the world of fear but to pursue the boldness God’s love brings (v. 35). As we experience this trust-based parenting, we respond by doing good and pursuing righteousness, rather than giving threats and bringing more fear to the world. We are not left alone; the Holy Spirit guides us and gives us each other to persist in bringing more love and life into our world.