Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear

1 John 4:18 Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

Have you ever had that uneasy feeling in your heart? Sometimes you can put your finger on the root cause, other times it just kind of sits there for no obvious reason. You may not call it fear, but there it is.

Fear isn’t something that we like to talk about and yet so many people live with fear as a constant companion. They mightn’t call it fear, it’s nervousness or worry or a brooding sense of dread.

It seems that we all have something to worry about. A financial challenge, a health issue, a relationship issue … just about anything really.

And yet the last time I checked, God doesn’t want us to be afraid. The Apostle John wrote about this very thing to His friends:

1 John 4:18 Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

You know, I have a few things in my life to be afraid of too. Things that if they go this way rather than that, well, it wouldn’t be good. But the more I spend time with my God, quietly each morning, resting in Him … praying … the more He takes that fear away.

Look, we should be afraid of God’s punishment. But the closer we draw to Jesus, the more it sinks in that He took that punishment for us. Our future is assured, because of Jesus.

And the more that sinks in, the less all these other little things matter. And even if you have something big to be afraid of, the perfect love of God … takes away that fear.

I would never have thought that, you know, but He takes the fear away.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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