1 John 4:7-21 (emphasis mine) Wrote:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. 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 reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters[e] also.

A slight digression tonight. I've been thinking about the role of fear in religion, how, for many, fear of sin, of the consequences of sin, or of the structures of religion itself, rules their lives. The Bible often talks of 'the fear of the Lord', but in most of the interactions between God or God's messengers and humans we are told 'do not be afraid'.

Now it's usually taught that 'the fear of Lord' really means respect and reference, rather than terror, but I don't think we let all the many 'do not be afraid's sink in to really demolish any sense that we should spend our time fearing God's judgement or the judgment of His people.

Jesus had much be fearful of. He knew what suffering awaited him on the cross - not just physical but spiritual too - and it certainly caused him much anguish in the garden of Gethsemane, but he chose obedience to the Father's will and to follow the path of perfect love, which casts out fear.

If we are to follow him, then we need to shed our fear, too. Fear of suffering and humiliation, yes, but also fear of judgement, fear of our own sinful nature of the secrets of our past. Jesus loves us with a perfect love and takes away the judgment and punishment that sin is due, so we need not fear. We can be who He made us to be without shame or guilt or fear, because His love is perfect and we are to love perfectly too.

What fears do you live with that you most want 'cast out'? What would it mean to experience the kind of love that did that?