“Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20 – King James Version) My genuine hope and primary purpose for the Ephesians 3:20 Faith Encouragement and Empowerment Blog is to assist all people of faith, regardless of your prism of experience, to grow spiritually toward unconditional self-acceptance and develop personally acquiring progressive integrity of belief and lifestyle. I pray you will discover your unique purpose in life. I further pray love, joy, peace, happiness and unreserved self-acceptance will be your constant companions. Practically speaking, this blog will help you see the proverbial glass in life as always half full rather than half empty. I desire you become an eternal optimist who truly believes that Almighty God can do anything that you ask or imagine.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

No Fear in Love - 1 John 4:18

No Fear in Love


In his first epistle, John offers a compelling legal argument about God’s perfect love.  In 1 John 4:18, the great Apostle of Love offers a four-point, line of reasoning.  “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.”  John assures early disciples the perfect love of Almighty God completely annihilates fear.  In Christ, God most clearly and uniquely reveals His perfect love for humankind.  This truth liberates us from fear of death; and empowers us to receive abundant and eternal life.

“There is no fear in love.”  Fear and love cannot coexist in the same heart.  If we are in love, we should not live in anxiety and dread.  Threat of loss or injury (emotional, physical, or financial) should not preoccupy our minds and hearts.  Love enables peace and freedom.  People in love rely upon a foundation of trust, commitment and fidelity.  They don not ruminate about possible loss of their relationship or any probability of harm.  If each person applies perfect love in Christ, it eliminates fear.

“But perfect love drives our fear.”  By love, the Johannine evangelist means God’s agape as revealed in Christ and explicitly defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  Perfect love is patient and kind.  It does not envy nor does it boast.  It is not rude, self-seeking or easily angered.  It records no wrongs.  It shuns evil and rejoices in the truth.  It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.  Perfect love never fails.  Accordingly, perfect love annihilates fear.

“Fear has to do with punishment.”  For many years, countless preachers utilize the fear of hell as the main reason to seek salvation.  They portray God as a vengeful and wrathful autocrat who anxiously awaits the opportunity to send sinful and guilty people to the burning lake of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Overemphasizing eternal damnation devalues God’s unfathomable love.  In the gospel of love, John says in the immortal sixteenth verse of the third chapter, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

Furthermore, the evangelist says, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”  It is hard to love genuinely when you are afraid of the person whom you love.  If you constantly flinch and anticipate danger, you can never know beauty and peace in perfect love.  Fear coerces love as a means of possibly avoiding punishment rather than freely sharing feelings, devotion and commitment.

“The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  Allowing God’s perfect love to penetrate your soul and determine your identity most reliably removes fear.  Imprisonment to fear prevents joy and wholeness.  You have a fundamental choice of stumbling and bumbling through life with meager hope of acquiring love or developing willingness and discipline to more greatly ascertain perfect love.

God’s perfect love accomplishes more than removing fear.  It cultivates inner healing and wholeness.  God’s love frees you to become the very best child of God of which you are capable.  Love in the covenant of marriage provides a foundation for success in your dreams and goals.  This longsuffering love relationship eliminates questioning self worth and proving you are lovable.  Trepidation that another person may not appreciate your unique character disappears in the light of perfect love.  Instead, you live imaginatively by developing one’s God given talents and abilities to the fullest extent of one’s natural endowments.



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