Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Matthew 8:23-26
The disciples experienced a frightening circumstance. And they reacted with panic and fear – “we are perishing!”. But wait a minute. Were they really dying? Did any of them die? No. They were judging their situation by their senses – not by their faith.
The disciples forgot Who was in the boat with them. If Jesus is in the boat, and Jesus is God, and Jesus loves me – what do I need to be afraid of?
“Why are you fearful?”. What was Jesus saying to them with this question? He was reminding them of the same thing that John would later write about – that if they were mature in their understanding of Who God is and how much He loved them – their fear would have been removed.
In other words, a perfect (mature) love would have cast out this fear:
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.
I John 4:18
If our love for God is mature and His love in us is mature, all fear is gone.