Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 John chapter 4 verses 16 through 18:
16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
What a tremendous statement. “We have known AND BELIEVE the love God has for us.” For it is truly one thing to know something intellectually, but it is quite another to believe it in our deepest selves.
John the Apostle wants us not only to know the teaching of God’s love for us, but to actually allow it to permeate our entire way of being. He wants it to revolutionize our whole theological, psychological, and emotional framework. He wants our theology and the theology or our church to no longer be based on fear. For perfect love casts out all fear.
“Believe this Love,” John tells us. “Believe in it when you fall short. Believe in it when you think you aren’t enough. Believe in it when you think more blood must be sacrificed. Believe in it when you say anything to a child about salvation. Believe in it when you say your prayers at night. Believe in it when you say your prayer at death.”
Fear has so deeply permeated our religious thought for so long that it is hard for us to break free from it. It’s somehow in our evolutionary makeup. It’s literally in our genes. We are deeply afraid psychologically that God is out to get us should we stumble or fall. But John says, “God is Love.” Know this. Know it deeply. Believe it. Know and believe the love God has for us. And then allow that belief to be the building block for all other things. Build your life around it. And if anything else in the world creeps into your mind other than God’s Love then learn AND DARE to flat-out tell it no.
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