Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that His love has not been perfected in us. 1 John 4:18 NLT
Evidently, according to this verse, if we could have perfect love for God, we could get rid of all fear. The challenge comes in having perfect love.
I’m not sure I understand the concept completely, especially as it relates to a God I cannot see, but the best way I know of is to compare what I don’t understand to something I do understand.
I do, at least on most days, understand my relationship with my wife. Working with that thought, let me say that before I met my wife, I didn’t love her. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you, but I really didn’t even know her, so loving her was hard to do.
Oh, sure, I might have had a general love for her as I hope I have for all people, but I didn’t really love her the way I am to love my wife. Over the years, I have grown to love my wife…and so much more! She has become my closest friend, my richest ally, and my surest companion. I love spending life with her. I truly do love her with all my heart. I can’t imagine life without her.
Additionally, in addition to my love for Cheryl, I’ve learned to trust her completely and without any reservations. We have centered our life together, focussed on Christ.
How did this love develop? It happened over time, as I grew to know her, spent time with her, dated her, and we experienced life together. The saying goes that I “fell in love” with her. That love continues to develop and grow.
This helps me understand what I must do to get rid of fear in my life. I must work towards developing perfect love for Christ. To do that, I need to get to know him better, spend time with Him more regularly, and figuratively date Him as we experience life together.
As it was for falling in love with my wife, learning to love Christ more is a process which can take years, but as I learn to love Him more I will find myself trusting Him more, learning that He is trustworthy, reliable and fully able to meet my needs. When the temptations of fear and doubt enter my mind, I’ll be able to trust in the God I know so well.
What is your greatest fear? Would you love to be rid of that fear?
Then, may I ask you: Are you investing in your God relationship enough to develop that perfect love?
Another contribution from one fo my favorite frequent fliers. Too bad Tjarks is so busy hating (yes, I used that word) people who do not share his vision to witness any kind of REAL love.
Thanks for sharing.
I love th imagry the Bible uses when it speaks of love. It's interesting to note that there are three main words for love in the Hebrew language, three in the Greek language, and three aspects to the trinity. I seriously doubt of that's just coincidence. My goal is to love God as passionately as I love my wife, and love my as spiritually as I love God.
My biggest fear is that I lose my wife and kids to some tragedy. My biggest challenge is to trust God to take care of them for me. And I believe that I am investing enough in that relationship with God, although I need to do even more…
Thanks for a great post!
Failure and spiders. Trusting God helps with the failure. Killing them helps with spiders.
That's a good combo