by Jordy van Gaalen

Fear is No Match for Perfect Love

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.”
1 John 4:16-18 NIV. 

God is our redeemer. God is holy, powerful, faithful, true, and just. God is love. We know love by looking at the character of God. Through love, God is in us and with us. God sees us as redeemed children through the Blood of Jesus. We are like Jesus, because Jesus took our place and carried our cross. God is love. If we live in love, we live in God. If we live in love, God lives in us. God is love.

Through God’s perfect love comes salvation. There is no need to fear God’s judgment, for He sent His son in our place. Confidence can replace worry because Jesus stood in our place. There is no fear of our inabilities and weaknesses or not reaching perfection. There is no need to fear that we’ve fallen short or that we are out of reach of God’s grace. We cannot stray too far nor dig ourselves too deep. 

Perfect love drives out fear.

When our eyes are focused on Heaven and the life to come, there is no reason to fear. Not the big things, not the day to day things, not that which our hearts struggle through. When we compare our insecurities, worries and fears with the life that is to come and the life in which Jesus has prepared a place for us, a new perspective emerges. How can we dwell in the trivial things when we hold them up to what Jesus did through His sacrificial death and resurrection. We know this place is not our home. The unknowns we face, the mistakes we make, and the hurts we endure are no match to the perfect love of God our Father. 

Perfect love drives out fear.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado