1 John 4:18
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
This being the week of Valentine’s Day, and by God’s divine timing the same week I started going through I Corinthians chapter 13 with our church body [also known as the ‘love’ chapter], I am going to dedicate this week to the study of Love. Not “love”, but “Love” as with a capital “L”. Hey, let’s just call this “Love Week” shall we?
A study on love, something that I’m doing right now, is an exhaustive search, and an exhausting task. This is so simply because the bible is God’s Word to man. It emanates from God, is inspired by Him, and God IS love. Therefore, God’s revealed story to us is all about love. I shared this past Sunday that all God has ever done, is doing, or will ever do, all originates and radiates from Love.
John talks a great deal about Love. John is a good authority on the subject as scripture defines John as the disciple Jesus loved. At least that is John’s description anyway. John is the one to whom Jesus trusted his mother from the cross.
A study on love, something that I’m doing right now, is an exhaustive search, and an exhausting task. This is so simply because the bible is God’s Word to man. It emanates from God, is inspired by Him, and God IS love. Therefore, God’s revealed story to us is all about love. I shared this past Sunday that all God has ever done, is doing, or will ever do, all originates and radiates from Love.
John talks a great deal about Love. John is a good authority on the subject as scripture defines John as the disciple Jesus loved. At least that is John’s description anyway. John is the one to whom Jesus trusted his mother from the cross.
And here, John connect Love and fear. Interesting. Scripture tells us more tan 300 times that we should not fear. And, when you add in all the other possible combinations of different ways that same thought can be worded, some have estimated the count to go up to over 1,000 times that we are told not to be afraid. But notice that this lack of fear, is based on our abundance of Love.
This Love of which we speak, as 1 Corinthians 13:1 tells us, is a supernatural gift of the spirit. It is divine, and it comes only from God. This is the reason that I have been capitalizing the word Love all along. Once we have, and understand this divine Love, it can be used for so many things. We can share it with others. We can use this Love to bring calm into our lives. Having this Love certainly allows us the freedom to enjoy people’s company or conversation in odd or strange situations, that should we lack that Love would make things difficult or at the very least uncomfortable. But most of all, having this Love at work in our lives, gives us the ability to trust God with all things. Including our safety.
Now I know that some of you who know me closely will find this a little bit strange, A man that works for a firearms company and is the strongest and most argent defender of the Second Amendment, using Love to protect himself rather than the always effective ~drilled into my US Army Infantry psyche ~ superior firepower option? Well, yes. Because we take realistic options to protect ourselves does not mean that we do not Love God enough to fully trust Him. I do own firearms, typically carry them and advocate their legal use for protection. Does this mean I do not Love God? No, but neither does the fact that I have a spare tire on my car, or a fire extinguisher in my house, or a bug-zapper in the back yard, or life, home or auto insurance, or a 401K. But I trust God to use these things, all of them, in His way, under His guidance, and under His sovereignty because I know He loves me. But what we must never do is allow fear to control us. Fear should never be a problem for us, it should always be HIS problem, and if our Love for Him is true, it WILL be His problem. Fear that controls us or limits our ability to work for His Kingdom or in anyway to serve God is a sin, just like anything else that might take control of us, and it must be avoided.
You see I love God, and trust Him to care for my provisions in my retirement years. I trust Him to protect us from severe health issues and house fires. But at the same time, we can make common sense choices to help protect ourselves as well. But having the Love of God in our lives frees us from the fear that may come should we lack that love. I pray for perfect love that allows all my hopes and desires to fall into the hands of God. He is my Rock, my Salvation, and my fortress. I certainly love Him enough to see to my protection, whatever that may be.
This Love of which we speak, as 1 Corinthians 13:1 tells us, is a supernatural gift of the spirit. It is divine, and it comes only from God. This is the reason that I have been capitalizing the word Love all along. Once we have, and understand this divine Love, it can be used for so many things. We can share it with others. We can use this Love to bring calm into our lives. Having this Love certainly allows us the freedom to enjoy people’s company or conversation in odd or strange situations, that should we lack that Love would make things difficult or at the very least uncomfortable. But most of all, having this Love at work in our lives, gives us the ability to trust God with all things. Including our safety.
Now I know that some of you who know me closely will find this a little bit strange, A man that works for a firearms company and is the strongest and most argent defender of the Second Amendment, using Love to protect himself rather than the always effective ~drilled into my US Army Infantry psyche ~ superior firepower option? Well, yes. Because we take realistic options to protect ourselves does not mean that we do not Love God enough to fully trust Him. I do own firearms, typically carry them and advocate their legal use for protection. Does this mean I do not Love God? No, but neither does the fact that I have a spare tire on my car, or a fire extinguisher in my house, or a bug-zapper in the back yard, or life, home or auto insurance, or a 401K. But I trust God to use these things, all of them, in His way, under His guidance, and under His sovereignty because I know He loves me. But what we must never do is allow fear to control us. Fear should never be a problem for us, it should always be HIS problem, and if our Love for Him is true, it WILL be His problem. Fear that controls us or limits our ability to work for His Kingdom or in anyway to serve God is a sin, just like anything else that might take control of us, and it must be avoided.
You see I love God, and trust Him to care for my provisions in my retirement years. I trust Him to protect us from severe health issues and house fires. But at the same time, we can make common sense choices to help protect ourselves as well. But having the Love of God in our lives frees us from the fear that may come should we lack that love. I pray for perfect love that allows all my hopes and desires to fall into the hands of God. He is my Rock, my Salvation, and my fortress. I certainly love Him enough to see to my protection, whatever that may be.
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