Perfect Love

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” -1 John 4:18

I have to confess: I forget this truth so often. I can spend hours and even days wallowing in fear- fear of the future and the unknown, fear of failure, fear of the opinions of others- without ever stopping to remember the solution. The solution to my fear isn’t knowing how my future will turn out or having all the answers, but instead resting in Christ’s perfect love.

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Thinking on the above verse always leads me to Romans 8…

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ “ -Romans 8:15

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39

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These beautiful truths resonate with my spirit every time I read them, but it doesn’t mean I always fully believe them. When anxiety wells up in me and my mind seems to override what I know in my heart to be true, I want to pray these Scriptures back to God. Do I trust His word, or do I not? Do I trust that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ, or do I not? In those moments of fear that can come so unexpectedly, I want to practice remembering my identity and what it means:

I do not have the spirit of slavery, but the Spirit of adoption as God’s child.

Nothing in all creation can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

There is no fear in His perfect love.