How do we get rid of fear?

How do we get rid of fear? 

This is an interesting question, and I am sure it has many different answers, but what thoughts come to your mind?

After reading the following verses from 1 John 4, I thought of a possible answer:

"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." - 1 John 4:17-18

In my mind, I imagined how fear can take hold in our hearts/minds and we struggle to find ways to get rid of it. Perhaps we could think of all kinds of solutions to try and chase fear out of our lives, but John proposes something else. If we allow the love of God to fill our lives, then this 'perfect love' will expel the fear that has taken up residence in our hearts. 

As we come to embrace the all-surpassing love of Jesus, fear begins to be replaced by a quiet contentment and trust in the redeeming love of Christ.

Thought: The way to expel fear from our hearts is to invite more of God's presence to fill our lives. What do you think? 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Loving a Cow

“Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love a cow - for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage." - Meister Eckhart

These words of Meister Eckhart really hit home as they challenge us to reflect on the real reasons why we love God. Do we just love God because we expect something in return or out of fear? If this is the starting point of our worship and love, then we will surely be disappointed. 

The same applies with our children - if they loved us only because of what we could give them or buy for them, we would eventually feel used and unloved. 

Question: Is it possible to love someone (or God) just because of who they are? If yes, then what stops us from loving in this way?

1 John 4:7 - Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Relying on God

"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” – C.S. Lewis

Who do we turn to when we need help? Do we find it hard to rely on God or on the promises of the Scriptures? John reminds us that we can rely on God - especially on the love that God has for each one of us.

1 John 4:16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Lean into God's love and grace

Living in Grace

D3LM3

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Love is risky

"Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." - 1 John 4:11 

What does this mean for you today? 

John gives us the starting point of our expression of love - it is God's love for us. That is the origin.

This is interesting, because usually the world suggests that we love others because of something they have done for us. However, Jesus turns this on its head. He reminds us all that if we wait for someone to love us first, before we love them, we may never get to share our love with anyone. Love is risky.

"True happiness is found in unselfish Love, A love which increases in proportion as it is shared." - Thomas Merton

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Love drives out fear

How much of our relationship with God is fueled by FEAR? 

I know what you are thinking - and your first reaction wants to be to answer ..."none", but is that really true? A large number of Christians have come to faith through the 'fire and brimstone' preaching of certain Pastors, but a measure of that fear still lies deep inside us. Of course, I am not implying that we move to the other extreme of having no reverence for God at all - that would be arrogant and foolish. However, if our relationship with Jesus is based on Fear, then I don't believe we can fully enter into the freedom we are given.

"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - 1 John 4:14-18

What do you think?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Change from within

"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." - 1 John 4:20

Let each failure and shortcoming simply urge us to turn humbly and meekly to the Lamb of God. Have full assurance that where He is enthroned in the heart, His humility and gentleness will be one of the streams of living water that flow from within us.

Let us look on every brother and sister who irritates or troubles us as God's means of grace. Let us look on him or her as God's instrument for our purification, for our exercise of the humility that Jesus, our Life, breathes within us.

And let us have such faith in the all of God and the nothing of self, so that we may, in God's power, seek only to serve one another in love.

These are challenging words today. Thank you Avril Hoepner for your thoughts.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Love is its own reward

Thomas Merton once mused:
"Love seeks only one thing: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward."

In this month of love, wouldn't it be amazing if we all sought the good of the ones we love without seeking any other reward. Imagine that 'LOVE' was all the reward we needed?

1 John 4:11 - "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Living in Grace
D3LM3

The Medium is the Message!

After yesterday's quote from Malcolm McLuhan, about humans not having 'Earlids', I stumbled across another quote of his and thought it is worth thinking about.

“In Jesus Christ, there is no distance or separation between the medium and the message: it is the one case where we can say that the medium and the message are fully one and the same.”
― Marshall McLuhan 

The well known phrase, "The Medium is the Message", comes from McLuhan and so when you take his quote (above) into consideration we come to a greater understanding of what he is getting at. In simple, he is implying that "how" we deliver a message (and in what manner) determines how people receive that message. It is all in the "way" we communicate that a message is received.

So, when it comes to the person of Jesus, I believe that he always spoke with a heart of love, grace and mercy. And when he communicated, people could sense his TRUE HEART and so they received his message in that way. His medium of communication was 'love' and so was his content. Love was at the heart of all he did and said.

What do you think? I would love to hear from you....

1 John 4:16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Once in 73 years

How would you feel if your partner, loved ones and friends only told you that they LOVED you once every 73 years? We would feel disappointed and starved of love. We would be left wondering if our loved ones actually 'loved us' at all. In actual fact we would only end up hearing those words 'I Love You' once or twice (maximum) in our entire lives. That would be sad!

So, why am I saying this?
Well, Ash Wednesday falls on St. Valentines day this year, for the first time in 73 years. Both days are significant for different reasons, but the deeper connection is that they both point to acts of LOVE as their foundations. Ash Wednesday begins the journey of LENT, which reminds us that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to live and die for us.

God's love is not a 'once every 73 years' event, but a daily offer of grace, mercy and love.

1 John 4:16 - "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love."

Prayer: Thank you God that you remind us of your love on a daily basis. Every sunrise is a reminder of your great sacrifice of love. Amen.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

We needed a surgeon ...

     

Peter Kreeft – “We needed a surgeon, and he came and reached into our wounds with bloody hands. He didn’t give us a placebo or a pill or good advice. He gave us himself.” 

      This quote reminds me that Jesus comes to meet our needs and not our 'wants!' In giving of himself, Jesus met every one of the desires and needs that we had (and will have). God could have given us the drugs to numb the pain, the pill to stop the hurting or even some helpful advice. Instead God sent us his Son - and in Jesus, we got all we ever needed.

      "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." - 1 John 4:9

     Living in Grace

     D3LM3

Stronger than ... Advent prayer 2

"Lord, goodness is stronger than evil,
Love is stronger than hate
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
victory is ours through you who love us." - Desmond Tutu

Evil, hatred, darkness and death are all strong words, but I am grateful that Jesus has given us things that are much stronger. This advent season remember that 'Goodness, Love, Light and Life' are all much stronger than anything the evil one has planned for us.

1 John 4:20 - Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Living in Grace
D3LM3