Word for the Day, Saturday, December 20, 2014 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love {I Jn. 4:18). If we properly love the Lord, and know that He loves us, which He most definitely does, then we know that He is working everything according to our benefit. Everything that happens to a Child of God is either caused by the Lord or allowed by the Lord. While the Lord definitely does not cause sin, He does allow it, and with consequences. Further, the Lord is not the cause of negative situations which come our way. But He does, at times, allow them. But no matter what He does, it is always for our benefit. We must know this, understand this, and believe this. If we love Him as we ought to, we will know that He likewise loves us, and that He will allow nothing to hurt us. We have this confidence in Him. The phrase, Perfect love casts out fear, pertains to God. This love is not known by the poor results of its action in man, but by its perfect action in God. And here is something we must never forget: that perfection manifested itself at Calvary. This perfect love is a fact, and it manifested itself outside of man in order to effect the Salvation of man. The Believer knows it by the Gift of Gods Son, and he enjoys it by the Gift of Gods Spirit. It is at Calvary that we learn what love is (4:10); and that when we had no love for God, the Lord loved us perfectly, even though we were far from Him and dead in sins. Man has no love for God; his pretension to possess it is self-deception. He cannot find it by searching within himself, but he can know it as manifested in the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ. Jesus gave the Life which loves and made propitiation for sins. We who really possess this Divine nature love because we are loved. It is especially a fraternal love; it loves fellow-Believers more intimately than the nearest relatives who are unconverted. It binds the heart with a stronger bond to persons never seen than to the dearest companions of childhood. It is a new nature, a realm outside of natural human affection — a realm of Divine love — a fellowship with God and with all who know Him. In truth, there is no real love outside that realm. The fear of which John here speaks, fear which has torment, is certainly not a Godly fear, a holy fear of displeasing the Father through sin (I Pet. 1:17; Heb. 12:28), but rather a slavish fear of a slave for a master, or of a criminal before a judge. The word torment carries the thought with it of punishment. Thus, the Saint who has experienced the fullness of this Divine Love in his earthly life will have no fear of correction or penalty (loss of reward) at the Judgment Seat of Christ. While the perfect love has its home in Christ, and is exercised at the Cross, the Saint can also have all that Christ has, which means that we can have perfect love, which is gained through our Faith in Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross. It is at the Cross that this great love was shown by God to a dying world, and it is at the Cross that the Believer takes upon himself this perfect love. It can be gained at no place other than the Cross (Jn. 3:16). The Expositors Word for Every Day. Baton Rouge, LA: World Evangelism Press, 2005.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 08:20:04 +0000
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