What drives out fear? Love does.
Don’t believe me? Think back to a time when you were in love with somebody. How bold were you? How much hope did you have for the future? Did you do any crazy things with them because you were in love with them?
Did you know you are loved?
You are loved with a perfect love from a sinless Savior who sacrificed Himself so that you could live unhindered by fear and live in His love.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”
1 John 4:18 NIV
Jesus came to the earth He created to perfect love. The word perfect here doesn’t mean flawless, it means complete…completed completeness.
Not infatuation, or an exciting feeling (which starts us out) but a deep developed love that stands the test of time and trial.
His was a love that bleeds when the lash tore open His back and the splintered wood of the cross dug into it.
A love that persevered through the unendurable physical and spiritual pain of the cross until He could utter the truth, “it is finished”.
His love has been made completely complete on the cross. The debt of sin has been paid and the great chasm between God and man has been crossed. Why? For you.
When fear rises up to dismantle your faith or weave it’s tentacles around your feet to trip you up, you must remember this fact: You have nothing to fear. You are in love.
Christ took your punishment completely so that you could be immersed in His love.
It is perfect love and in it, you are made whole.
Jesus walked the earth, spoke truth to all who would listen, healed broken bodies and restored broken souls to God. It was His love that breathed life into the first lungs of man and His word that drove the darkness and chaos back before that and it is His love that sets you free to love as freely and completely as you are loved.
What drives fear out?
Love.
The love of Jesus.
Hang your hat on it and get down to the business of loving others with the confident abandon that comes with it.
