Do not worry. Do not fear. Easy to say but difficult to do, right? Let’s look at a verse many of us have heard plenty of times. 1 John 4:18 — “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” If we are not to fear in this world we must be perfected in love. This is the answer to fighting our fears with effectiveness! Love. The agape kind.

Agape is the Greek Word used throughout scripture for God’s perfect love. Rather than a brotherly love (fileo) or sensual love (eros), it is a benevolent, faithful, committed love that is an act of the will. A love not earned but given freely. We must know that love, the agape love of God, not just with head knowledge but with heart knowledge. That is how we have confidence before God when judgment comes. How we face our depraved world with courage. How we love the world that hates our guts. How we fight for good in a world that wants to exchange good for evil and evil for good. How we do not fear the unknown but embrace it. How we do not become crippled by the violence and disarray of humanity. How we cling to the Lord in the midst of chaos. By being perfected in love. 

So it doesn’t start with the world around us. It doesn’t start with the people we don’t agree with. It doesn’t start with the people who hate what is good and love what is evil. No, it starts with us. We must be perfected in love. I must be perfected in love. And when the love of God, agape love (of the will, not of the emotions), is perfected in me, that love abiding in me will cast out fear. 

But my imperfect love cannot do that. Only the love of God perfected in me can. God perfects His love in us when we are His. It is His work, but we absolutely must do our part. And our part is not easy. But rather than our part being a bunch of to-do’s, it is more an act of surrender. So often what God calls us to do is contrary to what we think we ought to do. Yielding our will is not natural but it is holy. Surrendering our desires is not natural but it is holy. Obeying His Word is not natural but it is holy. If we want any confidence in our world today, we must yield, surrender, and obey. Confidence comes in conceding our will to His. Fear is cast out where fierce devotion begins. 

No one can “see” God because He is far too holy for our eyes to behold. But the world sees Him by the love He perfects in us. When love is perfected in us, it is being made complete. This process is not always fun, actually it often brings with it more pain than we’d like to welcome. But that pain brings forth more joy than we could find any other way. Gold is refined in the fire. Diamonds come forth through pressure. Holiness erupts from suffering. 

God’s way is never the easy one but always the right one. And our momentary suffering is not even worth comparing to what is to come (Romans 8:18). The beautiful, perfect reconciliation of all things to God. When His love is perfected in us, our understanding of that truth becomes more and more clear and motivates the way we live, the way we love. 

God is love. Love does not define God; God defines love. That love is sacrificial, not selfish. See the cross. That love is full of truth, not hypocrisy. See Jesus’ conversations with the Pharisees. If we want confidence in a severely broken and unpredictable world, we must allow God to perfect His love in us. We must yield, surrender, obey, and abide in His love that is perfect (holy). That perfect love contradicts just about everything in us naturally. So, change is a direct reflection of His love being perfected in us. 

If God’s love is being perfected in us, we will look less and less like the world, but love the people in it more and more. That doesn’t look like tolerance and indifference but fighting for people to know truth, so that they will be set free. They will know that we are Christians by our love. And that love will transform them from the inside out as it is transforming us. Our desires change, our will realigns, our heart is transformed. Every day I want to ask myself the all too important question: Is God’s love being perfected in me? If so, I have nothing to fear.