“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”
1 John 4:18a
M-m-m. Interesting. John doesn’t say perfect courage drives out fear. Not even perfect faith. Why does he say perfect love will drive out fear?
First of all, this verse is not talking about fears of financial ruin or life-threatening events. Verse eighteen gives us the context. John is talking about Judgment Day. He’s reminding us that, if we know Jesus, there is nothing to fear when we leave this earth for eternity. Jesus gave his life to save us from the consequences of our sin. Our place in heaven is secure, if our faith is in him.
And once that matter has been settled, other fear-producing questions can be put in proper perspective. We have to remind ourselves that earthly life fades quickly like the leaves (Isaiah 64:6). These questions will cease to matter–questions like:
- Will my job survive the cutbacks?
- Will I be able to keep my health insurance?
- Will my kids make it through their personal crisis?
But such questions can cause torment to the point of ulcers and high blood pressure. If we allow fear to control us, we’re saying that the troubles we face are more powerful than our God.
So here are a few ways to fight against fear:
- Rename your difficulties as possibilities—possibilities for God to do something glorious. Without a problem, there’s no opportunity for a miracle.
- Picture God Almighty accompanying you all day long. He’s standing right behind you at the sink. He’s sitting beside you in the car. His ever-watchful eye is upon you, his infinite strength is available to you, and his perfect wisdom will guide you.
- Don’t feed your fear with worry; feed your faith with the truth of God’s Word. Psalm 23 is a perfect place to begin. Remember verse four? “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
- Listen to what he says: “I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you (Isaiah 41:13). Visualize God holding you by the hand as you walk through each day.
Years ago, when a I was a young teenager, my family visited Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Dad and I were hiking over the mountain paths when we came to a deep, narrow ravine. He easily jumped across, turned, and held out his hand for me.
“I can do it myself,” I announced confidently. Then I looked down into that deep ravine. What if I fall? I thought. Grinning sheepishly at Dad, I said, “’Guess you’d better help me after all!” I had great confidence in my father. I knew he loved me and would never let me fall.
God is ready to walk hand-in-hand with me along the mountain paths of life. Problems arise, though, when I repeat that moment on Lookout Mountain and focus on the ravine, the what-ifs. The result? I’m frozen with fear.
How downright foolish of me, when my loving, trustworthy Heavenly Father has assured me:
“Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” (Isaiah 41:10, The Message).
You see, perfect love drives out fear because we can trust the perfect love of our perfect God.
From the Inside Out 
what a thought filled post. the word perfect sometimes stops me but it isn’t my love but God’s love, isn’t it? Love your image of walking with your dad too. that is a keeper
Thank you, Jean. You’re right–it’s God’s love for US that can drive out fear. Ken Taylor said it this way: “We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly” (1 John 4:18, The Living Bible).
Nancy I have a question for you. You are on wordpress and have the blogs I follow on your side bar. I need to get my blog list back up and haven’t found which plugin to use for a blog list. Which one do you use? I love it simplicity.
I’m sorry, Jean–I thought I had answered this question for you! Click on the title of your blog, top left. From the drop-down menu, click on Dashboard. Another menu of options will appear on the left. Click on Blogs I Follow. You’ll be taken to a page where you can type in the URLs of the blogs you follow, to create a list for your home page.
Hope this helps!
Hi Nancy I finally got around to following your instructions here and don’t have a blogs I follow choose on the list of options. I wonder if whoever did you blog, added that as a plugin. If you know the name of the plugin – Blogs I follow search didn’t show me anything – I’d love to know. If you can’t find it, ok, I will keep looking. Appreciate your help!
Ah-ha!! Your comment jogged my memory. To set up “Blogs I Follow,” I did follow other steps. See if this works for you: On the Dashboard menu, choose “Appearance.” On that menu, choose “Widgets.” There you will find “Blogs I Follow!”
Let me know if you find what you need to set up your list.
Fondly, Nancy
Reblogged this on A DEVOTED LIFE.
Thank you, JD. I am honored you found the post worth sharing with your readers. Praise God for his inspiration!
“Without a problem, there’s no opportunity for a miracle.” I’m going to take this as my mantra! Very inspiring. Thanks, Gail
Thank YOU, Gail. So glad these Spirit-inspired words ministered to your heart. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
Reblogged this on Thee Bloomin Idiot and commented:
Nancy I just wrote a post, because I was struggling with the tragedies of life some of my friends are going through. You hit it on the head. God’s love is perfect and it does drive out the fear of all things, when you know it, surely know it!
Thanks!
Thank you, David. When fears loom large, I pray God reminds me of what I wrote!
Amen! Easy to say, hopefully not as hard as I think it is. No fault the deceiver wants us to doubt and forget, but our Heavenly Father has promised He’s got us fast in the palm of His hand.
Amen,
Thank you for being such a faithful reader, Laura!
Oh, Nancy, this particular post was ‘perfect’ for me. I had never thought of ‘perfect love’ in the correct context, that of His Perfect Love for me! I always had it in my mind that I had to have perfect faith in Him, perfect courage in the face of my fears. While I have no trouble trusting in the Big Picture – that I belong to Him and will be spending eternity with Him, I stumble on the day-to-day fears, often feeling ‘frozen’ by panic attacks…that is the exact word I’ve used when explaining my state of mind to my Mom…’frozen’. Thank you for the reminder found in (Isaiah 41:10 – “Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.”) Praise the Lord for speaking to me through you. I am once more blessed by following this blog.
And once again, I am SO blessed that you find the posts meaningful and helpful. Indeed–Praise the Lord! Thank you for being such an encouragement to me, Cheri.
Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
It’s wonderful to know God’s love. I like the idea of thinking of problems as possibilities. When the time comes, I may be hard pressed to remember that!
Just happened to see your comment and realized I never responded. I’m sorry! You are so right: when we’re in the midst of a crisis it’s hard to remember the fear-fighting strategies. That’s one reason why we have each other, I suppose–to remind one another!
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