The Apostle John’s sure-fire solution for banishing fear

“Perfect love casts out fear, be­cause fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18. Many people suffer considerably in their thought life and are plagued by fear. They are plagued by the fear of man, fear for the future, fear of change in their daily life, etc. In this state their inner life is always in turmoil, and often because of external things. How­ever, the apostle John writes clearly that perfect love casts out fear!

“Perfect love casts out fear” – what does it mean?

If my first love is in order—that fervent, zealous, all-consuming love for Jesus—then fear is cast out! This kind of fear and a true love for Jesus can never dwell in my heart at one and the same time. If Jesus is to be allowed to lead me, and if the word is to do a perfect work of salvation in me, then fear has to be cast out. What a tremendous liberation it is to live in this way. My mind is set free from the details of life over which God has full control, and rest enters in where the Master can freely speak and work. The torment that is in fear is a heavy burden to bear.

Read more here about what a “first love” is: Is Jesus your first love?

In other translations it is written that “there is pain in fear,” but this kind of pain is not found in those who are apprehended of a love for Jesus. In the previous verse it says, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. Fer­vent love for Jesus will lead me into a constant and thorough cleansing. No sin and no selfish thought remain where this love is allowed to work. The fruit of this love is great bold­ness now and in eternity on the day of judgment.

When this desire of being as He is in this world is preserved in our hearts, then we have much to do in our hidden life. Let us seek the eternal and never-ending rest that fills hearts in which a fervent love for Jesus has taken up residence, and which cannot be moved.

This article first appeared under the title “There is no fear in love” in BCC’s periodical “Hidden Treasures” in June 2012.
© Stiftelsen Skjulte Skatters Forlag 2012 | ActiveChristianity