Perfect Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:18-19

Think about some of the most trialing times of your life – the most difficult things you have ever had to walk through. For some of us, that is the time we are in right now. All the chaos that is going on around us, all the things that we cannot understand, the lost jobs and uncertain economy. In those difficult times, love helped to pull us through, and that is no different now.

            My grandfather died while I was stationed in Japan. It happened very suddenly, though he had been suffering from dementia for some time. I remember the phone call and the outpouring of love that came in the days that followed. I flew from Japan into Denver, where my car was in storage. I drove into O’Fallon, IL and quickly met up with family. It is in those times that the love of family really strengthens one another.

            That love does not need to be reserved for difficult times. Peter says, in 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” In our difficult times, we need to love one another. We need to look to share the love that Christ showed us with others, because “perfect love casts our fear.” That perfect love first comes from God. It was His perfect love for us that made it possible for us to cast all our fears and anxiety on Him. Now, in our most difficult time, in the face of our fears, we need to love. We need to fall on the love of God, because His love casts out all fear. His love has conquered everything that we fear, so we cast those fears on Him, knowing that His love has already overcome such things.

Pray:

·      That we would continue to love one another

·      That we cast our fears and concerns on the Lord

Further reading:

·      Proverbs 9:10, 1 Peter 4, 1 John 4

Worship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiOdhzWKl94