Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:18-19.

There is a battle between fear and love. They are polar opposites. Fear is something that I have always battled. My understanding of what "fear" means has evolved as I've gotten older, simply because when I think I have fear beat, I battle it again. That is when I become aware of some new tactic fear has taken against me. Understand, I do not believe fear has anything on me, it does not overtake me. It is simply an area I battle in, overcome in.

What struck me about this verse is that it said "He who fears has not been made perfect in love". Love is something I have been seeking to grow in, so this really caught my attention. I want to be perfect in love. Could my battle with fear be a battle to grow in love?

God is love, so to be made perfect in love is to be made perfect "in Him". Verse 16 - "And we have known and believed the love God has for us, God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him." Perhaps, as I press in to the love of God, to abide more in Him, fear raises its head to try and stop me. We all have areas in our lives, points of weakness, that are soft spots on our underbelly's where the enemy takes aim.

The opposite of love involves torment. The amplified Bible describes torment this way - "for fear brings with it the thought of punishment". Fear means I have moved away from abiding in God, from trusting Him and the love that He has for me. And think about it, fear often causes us to feel like we haven't been good enough, that we have failed in some way, and somewhere the shoe is going to drop and we are going to counted as not worthy or not good enough. Comparison is rooted in fear, not love.

But Good News! Verse 17 tells us that it is in union and communion with God that love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us. Yes! As I seek Him, I am being perfected in love, and fear loses its grip.

Now, I know I'm not a hopeless case, because earlier in chapter 4, John tells us some more about what abiding in God looks like (and hence, love). It we confess Jesus as His son, we abide in Him (v.15); He's given us His Spirit because we abide in Him (v.13); and "if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us" (v.12). I have the first two down, and I am continually working on loving others, so I'm not doing too bad after all.

And fear? Well, fear has no hold on me.