There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 KJV
The only way I can truly know the value of the love of God is to compare it with the love of man and see what both man and God have done for me. Even today's extract goes in the same direction, trying to lay out all that God has done for man as the template for what love really is. At the heart of the love of God is his desire to leave the imprint of himself on earth. How would the world know of his love if there were not visible and audible expressions of that love?
That love goes to the very heart of man, seeking to change its perspectives, pursuits and priorities. Before the love of God came into a man's heart, there was a fearful expectation of death and judgment. Due to sin, man had no hope of eternal life with God, and no matter what man did, he could not live up to God's righteous expectations by himself. That was the basis of fear. Imagine being born into fear and living in fear all your life, due to ignorance about what Christ has done.
Man tried his best, but his best was still like filthy rags before God, the one whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity. It was this helplessness that makes us appreciate the love of God that we have received. It goes to the root of sin in our lives and deals with it, so that all the righteous requirements of God's law are satisfied through Christ. He deals with fear and death by dealing with the root cause, which is sin. If by the expression of the love of Christ, who died on the cross and rose again, the root of fear has now been permanently uprooted and a new seed of faith planted in my heart, what then is the basis of fear? What else is left to fear when eternity has now been planted in my heart? How can the devil still hold a part of my heart if God now dwells in that heart by faith?
There can indeed be no fear in love; the two can't co-exist in the same heart and at the same time. God does not share his space with anything or anyone else. You either let his love take complete control of your heart or you expose yourself to the bitterness of fear, which leads to death. As powerful as that love is, it does not go against the exercise of my freewill. I must sit down with God and examine my heart today: who lives in it? Does God have total control? Are there other concerns that threaten the peace and love of God in my heart? If there are, I must give them all to God to deal with, so that his love can take over my life.
In that love is real life; in that love is the fullness of all that God is and gives. Have I experienced that love of God, or am I still trying to secure life by own effort and labour? Am I seeking perfection by striving and pushing and shoving, forgetting that it is not by reason of strength or labour that a man prevails; it is simply by the grace of God. God's time of favour is here.
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