1 John 4:18

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:18


When I was in college (undergraduate we're talking) I used to be really into fear scriptures... the righteous need not fear, if ye are prepared ye shall not fear, fear not... all of that. And I would try to resolve it with all the scriptures that tell us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and things like that. Plus, God *IS* love, right?... so if perfect love casteth out all fear, and you are supposed to fear God, how does that work?
Anyway, I guess I see it differently now... to me, fearing God is fearing separation from Him, and God helps us deal with all the other things that we are afraid of. And if we loved and trusted God completely, there wouldn't be any reason to fear anything, because the things that we couldn't handle personally, God would handle for us. So, I guess the challenge is trusting him that much. Anyway, back in college I also was in a speech class once, and the guy told us that he wanted to teach us that being embarrassed was a good thing. I couldn't understand that at ALL then, but I guess I can see what he was saying now... it's good to get out of our comfort zones once in a while. So, the moral of the story is, it's nice that we don't get stuck at age 19 forever. :) Oh wait, the moral is... love. :) no need to be afraid of anything when we have God around, and learning to love God and other people is one of the best ways to get there.