Fearless Love

 Happy Sunday!

1 John 4:18 says, "We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us."(Living Bible).

My daughter reported that our local grocery store was full of shoppers this morning getting the last minute Valentine's gifts.  Even in our single digit temperatures scantily clad women flounced around dressed in their eye-catching best, and men were seen with balloon bouquets and gift baskets.  I'm not against the celebration of holidays or these types of displays of affection but I would hope that love would be demonstrated extravagantly everyday of the year.  The Word says, "God is love."(1 John 4:8 KJV).  Don't miss this.  Love is not just something God does.  It's His very essence.

So how can I truly show love?  Great question!  I'm so glad you asked.  Ephesians 4:31-32 says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."(KJV).  1 John 4:8 in the Living Bible says, "But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God—for God is love." 

2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound mind."(KJV).  The Amplified Version of this same scripture says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." 

When we know that we know that we know that God loves us, we can live life without fear.  We don't fear death because he has conquered it, "By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death."(Hebrews 2:15 Message). We don't fear sickness because he has healed us, "Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross. He did this so that we would stop living for sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you were healed."(1 Peter 2:24 Easy-to-Read Version).  We don't have to fear poverty, "After all, God can give you everything that you need, so that you may always have sufficient both for yourselves and for giving away to other people."(2 Corinthians 9:8 Phillips).

Love and prayers, Cynthia