I used to fear so much. I worried about the future. I wondered if "One Day, all my sins will be found out!"
I feared that all my needs would not be met.
I wondered if I would be all alone in this world.
I had so many, so many fears.
Then I felt about these fears, because I would look at the above verse, unable to make sense of something.
If I was fearful, it's that I didn't understand how much God loved me. If I was fearful, it meant that I wasn't "as He is", based on the previous verse.
Now I look at this verse with renewed revelation.
Love is perfected among us because as Jesus is, so are WE in this world.
This is a revelation for all of us.
And yet, individuals in the Body of Christ may struggle, may suffer in their understand of God's perfect love for us.
And there it all makes sense. I used to read that passage in 1 John 4:18, concluding "I guess I am not saved."
The truth is that I did not understand how perfect God's love was for me! He loves me perfectly, uncondititionally, irrespective of how I feel, or what I may be thinking or feeling.
He loved me and cared for me, even when I feared for my life, my liberty, my dignity. Even when I feared the worst and bad people were going to come get me. Even when I thought I was completely alone in the world, and no one knew what I was going through.
No one had ever told me that God loved me like that. No one.
Perfect love is unconditional love, the love of God sending His Son to die for me, to take all my sins, to free me from the penalties of sin. His love took me from dead in my trespasses to alive, seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in God's own Son! (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Rightly did the Psalmist write:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:" (Psalm 103:1-2)
and also
"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." (Psalm 139:6)
When we understand that God sees us and loves us as much as His own Son, we need never fear again!
"And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22)
Notice that God the Father, Daddy God, addressed His Beloved Son directly: "You are!" Not "This is!"
God says this to all of us "You are my Beloved Son!"
You! Me!
That is perfect love. That is unconditional love. When we understand that, it casts out all fears!
It puts out of doors of every perversion. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, none of it matters when we have His perfect love for us!
Wow!
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