LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Perfect Love
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has punishment in itself. Therefore he who fears has not been perfected in love. We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:18-19).
Every day, we Christians are subjected to an intense struggle at the level of spirit and soul; but we know that, in the midst of this maelstrom, God has given us support to continue on this path: the Holy Spirit, the communion of the Saints, His own divine nature, etc. Often, however, the Christian life becomes a heavy burden. Then God's admonition to the church in Ephesus becomes familiar to us: "You have left your first love" (Rev. 2:4). The joy and gladness of the beginning seem far away and everything becomes complicated and tiring.
In 1 John 4:18 it is mentioned that "there is no fear in love" and that "perfect love casts out fear". According to this passage, fear is negative in the Christian life. Therefore, we will associate this fear with fear. In this way, it differs from reverent fear and other fears mentioned in the Bible, which are very healthy for every Christian. But this fear described by John is different, for it must be discarded.
John speaks of perfect love, so we can deduce the presence of an imperfect love, which can take the form of small imperfect loves, such as work, family, a person, children, money, social position, etc. In other words, imperfect loves are all those motivations outside of Christ that impel us to follow him.
But, thanks be to God, there is a solution to this problem. When perfect love becomes the motor of the believer's service, it will make the believer serve in the church only to please the Lord, without expecting any retribution.
Perfect love is not obtained from one moment to the next. 1 John 4:18 says: "He who fears has not been perfected in love". It is necessary for us to be perfected, and to advance in our spiritual life by changing our imperfect love and fear for perfect love. Verse 19, "We love him, because he first loved us", suggests that love is born in us as we come to know and taste the love of Christ.
We all know that God loves us, but most of us have not been able to fully taste that love. If the Christian life becomes burdensome, it is necessary to review our motivation for following Christ. If we do it out of fear, then we will seek to taste the love of Christ, like the Shulamite in the Song of Songs, who says: "Draw me, and we will run after you" (1:4). It is paradoxical, but even our love is not useful to love him. We need to exchange our human, imperfect love for his perfect love.
In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul talks about gifts, but in verse 31 he says: "But I show you a still more excellent way". 1 Corinthians 12:31 is the last verse before chapter 13 (the preeminence of love). Therefore, love is superior to the gifts. It is also superior to faith and hope (1 Cor. 13:15). Let us not follow Christ out of fear, nor with imperfect love, let us not seek additions. The best motivation to follow and serve Jesus will be LOVE.