Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Those who do not love know nothing of God, for God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us in this way, we should love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love reaches perfection within us. We know that we live in him, and he lives in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen for ourselves and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God. And so we have come to know and believe the love which God has for us.
God is love; and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them. This is the way love has reached its perfection among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Christ. There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love. We love, because God first loved us. If someone says ‘I love God,’ and yet hates others, they are a liar. For the person who does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. Indeed, we have this command from Christ: Those who love God must also love each other.>
1 John 4:7-21 (OEB)
Oh, wait. Didn't we just do this?
This passage is so great I had to do it for a second week. Last week I touched on something, but mostly brushed past it. Today, I want it to take center stage.
There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love.
1 John 4:18 (OEB)
'There is no fear in love.'
God is Love.
There is no fear in God.
'Perfect love drives out fear.'
God drives out fear.
'Fear has to do with punishment.'
God drives out punishment.
Love drives out punishment.
'Anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love.'
Anyone who is afraid has not reached God.
Is this good news? Or bad?
Everyone is afraid of something, right?
For the Spirit which God gave us was not a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power, love, and self-control.
1 Timothy 1:7 (OEB)
Sure, fear comes, but it isn't from God. He didn't give it to you.
There is no fear in Him.
The Good News is, you don't have to be afraid. Of anything.
I'm hesitant to say this because it sounds cold, harsh, and unsympathetic.
But...
If there is something that is keeping you trapped in fear, stop.
Don't be afraid of it.
Fear isn't of God.
Fear isn't of Love.
So, let go of it.
I feel like I'm supposed to caveat this with an 'easier said than done', but I can't. It actually is that easy, and, in fact, the easy way is actually the only way to do it.
Fear isn't from God.
Sure, it comes from somewhere. Where exactly can be endlessly debated and has multiple correct answers. Frankly, who cares where it comes from? If it doesn't come from God, I don't want anything to do with it. Plain and simple.
Fear is like snow.
The world gives constant reasons for fear to fall all around you. But, if you just let it fall, it lands to the ground and melts away.
Fear becomes an issue when you lay down and let it cover you.
It becomes an issue when you ball it up and throw it at other people.
It becomes an issue when you try to hold on to it, not content with its ephemeral nature.
It takes more work and effort to hold onto fear than it does to let it go.
Fear isn't of God. Fear is unnatural. Fear takes work to manifest and hold onto.
So.
'Anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love.'
Anyone who is afraid has not reached God.
How do you reach God?
Let go of fear.
How do you reach Love?
Let go of fear.
How do you let go of fear?
You are Love.