"love Drives Out Fear"

Or, “What if God plays all the sins of my life on some giant screen for all to see?

How will I ever live down the humiliation of that?

How do I know that God’s grace is sufficient even for me?”

I think this what John is talking about in verse 18 when he says “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

It’s a miserable thing to have the wrath of God dangling over our heads, as if, if we step out of line He’s just waiting to blow us away.

I had a period of time when, even after I had given my life to Christ, I thought I had blown it because I had backslidden and I felt I was too sinful to be loved and forgiven by God.

And this had me in a state of depression and self-hatred.

I know I have shared this story a number of times, but I was walking across campus one day, grappling with this sense of inadequacy, fear, and depression.

I walked into the campus record store.

Playing in the store was the song, “I Love You Just the Way You Are,” by Billy Joel.

And because of how I was feeling and what I was thinking about at the time, it felt as if it was God speaking to me through those lyrics saying, “Ken, I know you.

I created you.

I died for you.

I love you just the way you are.

I don’t necessarily want you to stay the where you are, we’ve got a long journey ahead, You and Me—together-- but trust in Me.

Trust in my love.

Be secure in my love.

Do not fear.

Do not be sad.

I love you just the way you are.”

That made a huge difference in my life.

Paul wrote in Romans Chapter 8 that there is NOTHING in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord—NOTHING.

And yes, to believe this in this crazy world—the way it is—is perhaps counter-intuitive with all the hate, wars and terrible things that happen.

But this is the way it is.

I think we sometimes forget or don’t even realize how radical it is to say that “God is Love.”

It can just roll off our tongues without us really thinking about the implications of it.

But LOVE, PERFECT LOVE is a RADICAL CONCEPT.

It is a really, really BIG DEAL.

The word to describe the love of God is “Agape.”

It’s unconditional and self-sacrificial.

It’s PERFECT LOVE.

And the only way we can love, love ourselves, love God, and love others is by believing that God first loves us!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whosoever shall believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life.

For God did not come into the world to

condemn the world but to save it.”

This is radical stuff.

It’s otherworldly.

It’s not made up.

And if we are able to trust in this love, believe in this love it will transform our lives.

As Jesus says, believing in this love causes us to be “born again,” or “born of God.”

It changes our whole worldview.

Do you believe in this love?

Do you believe that God loves you no matter what, sins, mistakes, shortcomings and all?

Do you REALLY believe this?

Because if you do, and if you stake your entire life on this, it WILL change everything.

How wonderful is that?