For love’s sake
A Simple Message
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
– 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love.
Such a simple statement, yet often so hard to apply to our Christian life.
So often we find ourselves tempted to believe we can only truly worship God by fearing Him. Yet the greatest commandment is not to fear the Lord our God, rather to love Him.
John’s epistle states that to follow this commandment obediently would lead to the casting out of all fear.
So then, why do we fear?
Or more importantly, why should we fear?
One of the few passages in scripture describing how spouses should treat one another is Ephesians’ comparison of Christ and the Church.
So, if we look to marriage as an example, we should never live in fear of our spouse.
Indeed, to be afraid of your own spouse would indicate an extremely unhealthy marriage.
A healthy marriage isn’t one where the partners stay together out of fear, but rather because of their adoring love for one another.
Furthermore, in a truly healthy marriage we find that the childish insecurities and worries of our youth are gradually replaced by the love of our spouse. Love casts out fear.
Of course, this begs the question: What of the many passages that do instruct us to fear God? As always, we must remember the context of any verse we study in scripture before applying it to our lives; and many times, those passages of fear are contextually not applicable to born-again believers.
Though, comparing it again to a marriage, if we were to fear anything in a marriage, it should be breaking the heart of the spouse we love.
Our love for them should motivate us to prioritize their happiness to the point that the thought of them being unhappy is a fearful thought for us.
Likewise, with God, we should not fear the man in the sky waiting to punish us.
Instead, we should love our Heavenly Father enough that we’d simply never want Him to be unhappy.
Or, put more simply, perfect love is when we learn to love for love’s sake.
Jason Shockley is an evangelist and teacher passionate about uplifting others through the word of God.
