Perfect Love Banishes Fear (1 John 4: 17, 18)

PERFECT LOVE BANISHES FEAR (1 JOHN 4: 17, 18):

Apostle John writes that by confessing Jesus as Son of God, believers abide in God as they had known His love. God abides in the believers, thereby love is perfected within believers and they may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as Christ is so, also are the believers in the world. It is not because of the efforts and good works or righteousness, that the believers could stand before God, but completely because of His grace and His love because the evilness and abominations of mankind are many. The believers had tasted God’s love which is the greater love through the Lord Jesus Christ, thereby offer their life for another’s life as a sacrifice, even for another person's mistakes. The love in action helps the believers to be perfected in love and not just knowing the greatest love. Believers being received the salvation through Lord Jesus, will also progressively equip themselves to Love others, even to the point of death as that of Jesus Christ. Thereby the believers will have the confidence to stand before God in the Day of Judgment.

Apostle John further writes that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Perfect Love is out of the free will, without any changes and without selfishness. It is unconditional and without expectations. But Fear could exist because of being deviated from a beloved person, doing what is not right, and suffering because of a lack of relationship. Love makes a person to please the person towards whom it is given and taken and thereby it casts out fear and lack of insecurity. If the person merely does follow the commandments of God out of fear of God because He is righteous and gives consequences to the mistakes, it could be superficial without the way God really wants to be. The person who fears has not really known the love of God, and thereby love God as it needs to be.

Stimulations for Self-Reflection:

1.      How believers be perfected in love?

2.      Why we need to be perfected in love?

3.      What do you mean by having confidence for the Day of Judgment?

4.      What is not there in love? How? 

5.      What does perfect love do? How?

6.      What fear has to do with? How?

7.      Why those who fears has not been perfected in love?

8.      How we can cast out fear of God with perfect love?