"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us."
1 John 4:17-19
I really like the idea of no fear in love. I think sometimes that we think it *is* part of love, or at least part of worship. That we should be afraid of God. Now, admittedly, the scriptures do say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but I think that it is a little different than being afraid of God. I think it means more respect and understanding of who he is... the bigness and the all-encompassing grandeur of it, rather than being terrified. These verses tell us that our love is made perfect when we can be bold in the presence of God. When we love each other enough for that... when we have gotten our lives to that point. And God, who *is* love as the scriptures also say, casteth out fear. God doesn't want to torment us. He doesn't want it, and why would he ever? The only reason we are here is because of him. Everything we have is from him. We can only love him because he first loved us, and created a world and bodies and ... everything for us. We are his work, and his glory.
Today, let's not fear God, unless it is the beginning of wisdom kind where we understand better who he is. Let's learn of him, talk with him, get to know him better. He loves us so completely and enduringly... no matter what we've done, he will still listen to us, and work to help us fix it, or mitigate the consequences if it is unfixable. He wants us to have hope... to be happy. Not to despair or suffer overwhelming guilt. He'll help us to repent, and to be safe even from our own consciences if we work with him. No one loves us in the world/universe/galaxy/all of creation more than he does. Let's trust him, and be willing to turn to him for help with everything. :) And when we've gotten to know each other better, we'll feel more confident, and the love will go both ways, and our love will become perfect. :) Pretty cool. :)
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us."
1 John 4:17-19
I really like the idea of no fear in love. I think sometimes that we think it *is* part of love, or at least part of worship. That we should be afraid of God. Now, admittedly, the scriptures do say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but I think that it is a little different than being afraid of God. I think it means more respect and understanding of who he is... the bigness and the all-encompassing grandeur of it, rather than being terrified. These verses tell us that our love is made perfect when we can be bold in the presence of God. When we love each other enough for that... when we have gotten our lives to that point. And God, who *is* love as the scriptures also say, casteth out fear. God doesn't want to torment us. He doesn't want it, and why would he ever? The only reason we are here is because of him. Everything we have is from him. We can only love him because he first loved us, and created a world and bodies and ... everything for us. We are his work, and his glory.
Today, let's not fear God, unless it is the beginning of wisdom kind where we understand better who he is. Let's learn of him, talk with him, get to know him better. He loves us so completely and enduringly... no matter what we've done, he will still listen to us, and work to help us fix it, or mitigate the consequences if it is unfixable. He wants us to have hope... to be happy. Not to despair or suffer overwhelming guilt. He'll help us to repent, and to be safe even from our own consciences if we work with him. No one loves us in the world/universe/galaxy/all of creation more than he does. Let's trust him, and be willing to turn to him for help with everything. :) And when we've gotten to know each other better, we'll feel more confident, and the love will go both ways, and our love will become perfect. :) Pretty cool. :)
I really like this. Abstracts like love and perfection actually coming together to form perfect love, which, since we feel and see Christ's love every day, all the time, is the most concrete and reassuring thing there is in this world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this today. :)