- 1 John 4:16-18
I was studying this verse the other day and the phrase "perfect love" stood out to me.... Perfect Love? Who was He kidding? I can't do that! I'm not perfect! I began to think about all the times that I should have or could have done something different... I began to focus on my failures in my relationships with other people. No one I know is perfect.
But God nudged me to read it again, this time with a different perspective. I quickly realized that I had missed the meaning! This verse was not about me or what I could accomplish. This verse was talking about Christ's love. It is HIS perfect love that eliminates fear!
Even on my best day I fall far short of perfect but I know that perfect love has come....in Jesus! We can eliminate fear. We can defeat fear if we just receive His fift. The only way to experience the perfect love that casts out fear is to rely on what God tells us He's already given. We are "made perfect in love" by resting in Christ.
God knows that we are going to struggle with fear. He knows that we are at war with this world and that this world constantly draws us from Him in fear. There are thousands of reasons we fear... Money? Acceptance? Lonliness? Relationships? Health?
Think about it....
How much stronger/bettwe would we be if we replaced fear with faith! The same situations that inspure fear are very often the same contidions that inspure faith. We have the choice....fear or faith? Our difficulties, concerns and questions don't seperate us from God... fear seperates us from God.
Our fear is really unbelief.
We think...God Can't or God won't so I must.
But faith....faith choses to believe that God can... God loves us, God wants too.
Our response should be to trust Him!
Fear and Faith both exist within us. We can not eliminate fear. As long as we are a part of this world we will have situations we fear. The question is which one (fear or faith) will have control of our lives. Only one can rule our heart. The more we open our heart and the more we turn to Him and rely on Him, the less control fear has. Its power weakens.
Only faith offers us the gift of quietness and rest.
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