"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment and he who fears is not yet perfect in love."John says not to fear because perfect love casts out fear. This seems simple enough, right? The reason that this verse from Scripture is my favorite (and I do mean favorite) is because it challenges me on a daily basis. Often times things are easier said than done and for me, especially in this case, it is true. John tells us in the fourth chapter of his first letter that "God is Love". God is perfect Love. God casts out all fear. And yet day after day many Christians fear something. I would have to say that my biggest fear is disappointing God by not doing what He has created me to do. This fear sometimes causes me to worry about the little things. Did I pray hard enough or well enough? Was I too distracted in my prayer or during my ministry to others? Could I have done that better? As you can imagine, this can get very overwhelming if I'm not careful.
Recently I feel as though I've had a revelation - the light bulb has finally gone off in my head. I've heard this millions of times before, but for some reason, it has finally sunk in. You see, I attribute all this worry and, ultimately, this fear to myself. I've been taking the attributes of God and trying to claim them as my own. The reality is that I am not perfect. I am weak. I am sinful. This is the truth and as much as I know this, I still struggle with expecting myself never to fail. When I do, I am ridiculously hard on myself. I realize that we are all called to be "perfect like [our] heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48) and I try. This perfection that Jesus is talking about does not just mean "don't make mistakes". This perfection means that we are to be loving and merciful to our friends, family and even our enemies; and I can't help but believe that this love and mercy also needs to be extended to ourselves.
There is a depth of beauty in this verse that speaks to my soul. When I read and pray with this verse I realize that it's ok for me to be me. It's "ok", so to speak, to be weak so that I can be a witness to God's glory; to His Majesty! I can be a witness to the power of the Holy Spirit and how he "uses the weak to lead the strong". (1 Corinthians 1:27) I remind myself that "when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). Most importantly, when I pray with this Scripture verse I am reminded that God is pleased with my desire to please Him. It often reminds me of St. Therese and her little way. She knew God would take care of the heavy lifting; she just had to be docile.
Let us pray that today, and always, we are docile to the Lord's Will in our lives; that we remember that there really is "no fear in love".
Written by Alycia
