Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
Key Verse:
In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that as He is, so also we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been perfected in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
(1 John 4:17-19)
One of my more poignant memories of my childhood involved the time I had a splinter under my finger nail from playing outside and my father told me that he had to remove it. This plan did not sit well with me as I knew that removing it would hurt like heck. I asked him how he planned to remove it and his response was "I'll have to dig it out with a needle". This made me even more afraid to allow him to remove it. He told me "It'll only get worse if I leave it be. It could get infected." I reluctantly sat down on the couch and allowed him to remove it. It hurt like heck, but he got it out.
You know what allowed me to sit down and let my father remove that splinter though I knew that it certainly was not going to be pleasant? It was the knowledge that my father loved me and would do nothing that caused me pain unless it was for a good reason. God, our heavenly father, is like that as well. He knows that sometimes things have to happen that my hurt at the time so that we can grow, become stronger, and become better. It's easy to fear those things which can cause pain and assume that God is not really looking out for us, because he'd stop the pain if he was. Perfect love drive out fear. As a Christian, my love of God helps me to drive out my fear that He will not provide for my needs and that if he is not giving me something I'm asking him for, such as relief from something causing me pain, then He is doing it for a good reason and is doing it in love. What is going on in your life right now that is causing you fear? Is it a loss of a job, a health issue, a relationship? Give it up to God, drown your fear in His love and your love towards him and watch your fears fall away.
In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that as He is, so also we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been perfected in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
(1 John 4:17-19)
One of my more poignant memories of my childhood involved the time I had a splinter under my finger nail from playing outside and my father told me that he had to remove it. This plan did not sit well with me as I knew that removing it would hurt like heck. I asked him how he planned to remove it and his response was "I'll have to dig it out with a needle". This made me even more afraid to allow him to remove it. He told me "It'll only get worse if I leave it be. It could get infected." I reluctantly sat down on the couch and allowed him to remove it. It hurt like heck, but he got it out.
You know what allowed me to sit down and let my father remove that splinter though I knew that it certainly was not going to be pleasant? It was the knowledge that my father loved me and would do nothing that caused me pain unless it was for a good reason. God, our heavenly father, is like that as well. He knows that sometimes things have to happen that my hurt at the time so that we can grow, become stronger, and become better. It's easy to fear those things which can cause pain and assume that God is not really looking out for us, because he'd stop the pain if he was. Perfect love drive out fear. As a Christian, my love of God helps me to drive out my fear that He will not provide for my needs and that if he is not giving me something I'm asking him for, such as relief from something causing me pain, then He is doing it for a good reason and is doing it in love. What is going on in your life right now that is causing you fear? Is it a loss of a job, a health issue, a relationship? Give it up to God, drown your fear in His love and your love towards him and watch your fears fall away.