photo by: Tina Phillips

This is an extension of the last post that I made.  This past Sunday my pastor caught up with me on the verse I last wrote about (1 John 4:18).  It reads:

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

I’ve been struggling with this verse for the past few days, trying to understand it fully.  It seems simple enough, right?  “There is no fear in love.”  The surrounding passage clearly indicates that John was writing about judgement and punishment.  But what about other aspects of life? God made the answer very clear to me last night.

To better understand what I learned, you need to understand what I’ve been going though lately.  There have been many changes in my life recently, and the changes, while good for me, haven’t come without their opposition.  I feel as though satan has been attacking me in every way that he can to instill fear in me.  He’s given me every reason I need to understand why I’m not good enough, or strong enough, or prepared enough.  And at my lowest point last night this verse popped into my head, and God showed me exactly what it means.

He reminded me of two things.  First of all, He is in control.  This is his universe.  There is nothing in this universe he doesn’t control, and there is nothing bigger than He is.  Second, He loves me, and He’s for me.   So if the almighty, all powerful God of the universe loves me… then what do I really have to fear?

I’m so thankful I serve a God who cares for me, and loves me, and won’t set me up for failure!

photo by: Tina Phillips

I’ll admit that today in church I did something that I commonly do on Sunday: reading beyond the passage being preached about.  Today, that led me to 1 John 4:18.   I’m amazed sometimes at how I can read a passage and pick up on something which seems so simple and so true, but yet hasn’t stood out before.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…

1 John 4:18

The verse just prior says that love is what gives us confidence for the day of judgment.  It wasn’t until this morning that I saw the bigger picture.  I’ve known for a long time that it’s by our faith that we can have confidence on the day of judgment, but today I was able to clearly see the connection of faith and love when it comes to our salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

Let’s not forget that God is love (1 John 4:16), and love is a choice.  God chooses to love us despite our sin, and it’s the love he has for us that results in the grace we see in Ephesians 2:8.  So in a big picture sense, our faith is an attribution of God’s love for us.   It’s because God loves us, and because we believe in that love that we can have confidence in our salvation.

In summary:

There is no fear in love. (1 John 4:18)

God’s love was manifested through Jesus (1 John 4:9)

Fear is the opposite of faith (Mark 4:40).

Our faith in Jesus is what gives us salvation and confidence.