Perfect love casts out fear

1 John 4:18 (NIV) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment [torment - NKJV]. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

How convinced are you that God loves you unconditionally, in spite of your faults, your past conduct, or anything else?

If you’re convinced that God loves you, you don’t expect that He’s going to punish you in anger. God’s not in the business of putting diseases on His kids, taking family members away prematurely, or burning down their houses. On the other hand, if you believe that God may be angry with you, you’ll question His love whenever something bad happens.

- Yes, He will correct us when we’ve gone wrong – that’s what the Holy Spirit convicts us of.
- Yes, He will let us reap what we’ve sown, good or bad (Galatians 6:7), but even then, He’s given us the grace system (His undeserved favor) to lessen or reverse that impact when we turn to Him.

My favorite verse on God’s love for us – besides John 3:16 of course – is John 17:23:

John 17:23 (NIV) I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

See that? Jesus is praying that even the world – those outside of the church – can see that God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. Who can fear (in the anger and judgment sense) a God like that?

Doug (on vacation this week)