March 20, 2020
John C. Kwasny
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (I John 4:18)
We are most familiar with the opposing emotions/heart attitudes of love and hate. One person loves Brussels sprouts, the other hates them with a passion. Half of our church loves Ole Miss, but the other half…well, you get the idea. While love and hate are certainly opposites, they are not the ones the Apostle John addresses in I John 4. Instead, he writes first that people can only truly love God and one another when they know the love of God in their lives. According to verses 16-17, God’s love for us is so powerful that when we abide in His love, and His love abides in us, then we are “perfected” in love. And that perfect love gets rid of the fear that so often characterizes our lives. Thus, fear is the opposite of love as well.
Now, what does John mean by perfect love? Since none of us are perfectly holy, how can we expect to achieve this sort of love--and thereby get rid of our fears? According to the late James Montgomery Boice, perfect love “means ‘whole’ or ‘mature,’ and it refers to that state of mind and activity in which the Christian is to find himself when the love of God within him … has accomplished that which God fully intends it to accomplish.” In other words, the more we enjoy the love of God in our lives, the more mature and complete we become in loving Him and loving one another. Then, as that love becomes increasingly mature, we find ourselves with much less fear, dread, and sinful anxiety.
Practically speaking, when we are afraid, the Biblical solution is to not only to trust God more, but to love God more. He is perfectly loving and perfectly trustworthy to handle all things perfectly! Then, this love versus fear dynamic moves to human relationships as well. For example, If I am deeply afraid of another person hurting me, it may actually be unwise to trust him or her to not hurt me (for lack of trustworthiness). Yet, according to I John 4:18, I can still work to love him or her with the love of God, which will also greatly reduce my fear of being hurt.
So, let’s apply this Biblical principle to the fear that is being experienced by many during this coronavirus pandemic. Should we all be trusting God more during this time? Definitely. Should this crisis move us to love God more? Yes! But an overlooked opportunity is for all of us, as the Body of Christ, to learn to love our neighbor much more intentionally and intensely. Loving others with Christlike service has the God-given power of getting our minds off self, and by extension, our fears. Perfect love casts out fear! Go in that grace today, loving God and loving one another with the love of God.