“Perfect love Casts out Fear” 1 John 4:18
Our Lenten journey that begins in February will center on this verse from 1 John. So much of our lives can be dominated by fear. We can be afraid of failure, afraid of being alone, afraid of suffering, afraid of dying, afraid of poverty and so forth. Many will advocate that faith and courage are the response to such fears. We are told that we should trust more and raise our heads in anticipation of God’s goodness.
For the writer of 1 John this is not his answer. Instead, for him the answer to fear is love. By loving the world, loving others and knowing that God and others love us, we can overcome our fears. If you know that you are loved, that others care for you and that your primary purpose is to love others, than those things that scares us can lose their power. We turn lives from being inward to lives that are pointed outward. For instance, if we are afraid of being alone in our lives and instead of falling into fear we fall into love, we will reach out to others in kindness and service. When we reach out to others in kindness and service our loneliness will subside. Love will cast out the fear.
Thus the question we have to answer everyday is, “Do we live in fear or do we live in love?” If we live in fear, we turn inward sometimes with painful consequences. If we live in love, we will find the joy of the lord.
I hope that you will make the Lenten journey with us as we explore this in more detail. Ash Wednesday is February 21.
Remember: Do you live in love or do you live in fear.
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