Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

I like to think that I’m not a fearful person. I don’t dwell on things I can’t control, and I assume that things will work out. I have done some pretty scary things. Put me on the top of a cliff and tell me to jump in the water 60 feet below, and I’m on it. Strap some fins and a scuba tank on me, and I’m down for some serious diving. Strap me in the back of an F-15 and pull six G’s, and I’m all over it.

Well, that’s the image I want to put out there. That’s what I want people to think. But to be perfectly honest here, as I grow more in tune with my emotions (thanks to counseling through Hope to Alaska), I realize that much of my outward behavior and reactions are actually rooted in fear: Fear of what people will think. Fear of letting people down. Fear of people seeing the real me. Fear of messing up. Fear of being vulnerable. Oh my goodness, so much fear.

Here’s the thing — I was scared to do those other things — I just did them anyway. So, let’s swing back around to the more obscure fear — the emotional fear. Unlike the more obvious daring activities where I just face the fear and do it anyway, the emotional fear is much more daunting for me. Instead of facing it, I push it down and avoid it.

Here’s the deal, those deeper emotional fears are actually just as surface and trivial. Ouch. That hurts to hear, but hear me out. In our “Counter Culture” series we’ve been doing at church, we have been talking about who we give authority and time to in our lives. We’ve been talking about how much God loves us, and if we just really grasped that, the rest would be cake.

Let’s back up a few verses from our verse of the day, 1 John 4:16-19: “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love because he first loved us.”

Did you catch that? If I have fear, I have not fully experienced his perfect love. This doesn’t say that He doesn’t give me His full and perfect love, just that I have not experienced it. But, we have the hope that as we live in God, giving Him authority and surrendering our “control” to Him, our love will grow more perfect, and perfect love expels all fear! As I grow closer to God and closer to fully experiencing His love, I will fear less. Because honestly, if God is for me, who can be against me?!

But how do we do that? Let’s face it, there are fears in this world. Because we live in a broken world and a perpetual spiritual battle, we will face fear. Our verse says that we need to live in God. We need to do more than just a fly-by — we need to land, unpack and settle in. If you are married, you know that if you want to fully experience the love of your spouse, you need to be fully connected to them. You need to get to know them intimately. You need to do life together. You need to do both the exciting and the mundane alongside them.

The same is true of God. We need to be fully connected to Him — through His Word, His Spirit, His people, and prayer. We need to get to know Him intimately, letting Him into our deepest thoughts, hopes, wishes, and fears. We need to do life with Him — both the exciting and the mundane. Where can you bring God further into your life? How can you grow deeper and more intimately in love with Him? Where can you allow yourself to fully experience His love and thus cast out fear?

Holy Father, Abba, I want to live fearlessly in You! I realize that many people fight fear and anxiety on a daily basis, Lord, but I ask that You show them only You can dispel that fear. Only through experiencing Your love can we hope to combat the fear — and while we may never be able to fully get rid of it this side of Heaven, we can live in the hope and confidence that You are with us, and we can “do it scared.” Lord show us how to live fully in You, surrendered to Your Holy goodness and love. Thank You for first loving us — in Jesus’ name ~ AMEN.