“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment.
And he who fears has not been made perfect in love”- 1 John 4:18 R60
There is not a human being on earth who has not experienced a disappointment in love, the bitterness of rejection, the lash of hatred, the cruelty of envy or the pain of betrayal. So we see parents who reject their children, children who hate their parents, disloyal friendships, adulterous and self-serving marriages, false and ill-motivated relationships, selfishness, self-centeredness and lovelessness. It seems that finding a faithful, loyal, upright, sacrificial, selfless love is something strange on any scale of this world. For that reason there are those who have closed the doors of their hearts to every affectionate relationship, a way of making sure that their feelings are neither wounded nor mocked. Nevertheless, deep within us we keep seeking and longing for “true love.” A useless struggle, because the human being does not know the love that completes him, but only the natural feeling that binds him to another person, which is generally perishable, conditional and limited. We fear loving, giving ourselves, but only by experiencing perfect love will we be able to say that we truly love and are loved. The word translated as perfect is the Greek term teleioõ, teleios, which denotes something that is “full, complete, perfect,” that is, mature, to which nothing needs to be added. And the term agape, which is translated as love, refers to divine love. True love is none other than the perfect love of God. In order to love and be loved in the way that fills the emptiness of our heart, we must love as God loves and loves us.
But what is perfect love like? How can we identify it? We can only know perfect love through the actions it produces, because: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…” (1 Cor 13:4-8). Therefore, perfect love refers more to an action on behalf of others than to a feeling. That love is the very essence of God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). Perfect love is not driven by feeling, nor does it incline toward some excellence or affinity in the one who is loved, but arises from a deliberate action of the very heart of a holy God toward sinful men (Rom 5:8); of a benevolent God on behalf of wicked men who were His enemies (Rom 5:10); of a God who, seeing our impossibility, took our place and gave Himself for us (Galatians 1:4). We can love our parents, siblings, friends, spouses and children very intensely, but we will only truly love them when we love them with the love of God and through God. With the love that a human being can give we will feel appreciated, but when we are loved with the love of God we will feel fulfilled.
I once read that someone very intrigued said to an elderly minister that he considered a certain declaration very strange: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”. “‘Very strange,’ replied the minister, ‘but tell me, what is it in it that seems most strange to you?’ ‘Oh,’ replied the gentleman, ‘that He hated Esau.’ ‘You see,’ answered the minister, ‘how things are, and how differently we are constituted. What seems most strange to me is that He could have loved Jacob. There is no mystery more glorious than that of the love of God.’” Yes, the love of God is incomprehensible and unshakable. And we, like that simple man, concentrate on the rejection of Esau. “Wow! A God who says He is love and look, He hated, He abhorred Esau and preferred Jacob. What injustice! God has favorites…” We are so wounded, we have been so beaten that we identify more with the rejected than with the chosen, for secretly we see ourselves in him. In the course of our lives we have suffered so much that it is easier to believe in the hatred of God than in His love; in the punishment of God than in His forgiveness; in condemnation more than in His salvation.
But I have something to tell you, my beloved friend, brother, sister: God loves you. Yes, God loves you. Do you hear me? God loves you! And with His perfect love He knew you before the foundation of the world, and predestined you in His love to be His child through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5). Yes, God loves you even though you have no merit in His eyes and you were in the same condemnation as those who are lost. God loves you and poured out His love in your heart, so that you could love Him with the same devotion and surrender. God loves you and nothing will separate you from His love. His love is firm, faithful, deep, immense, so much so that it is hard to understand the great love of God, because it surpasses all knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19). Now we have faith in God and hope in the life to come, but the most important is love (1 Cor 13:13). Love is greater than faith and hope, and in the end it is the only thing that will remain; for that reason we were begotten by love, predestined to this great salvation by love, and we will live eternally in love. Therefore it is necessary that we be perfected in the love of God. In the 1st Epistle of the apostle John we find four aspects in which it is shown how the love of God is perfected in us:
I. KEEPING HIS WORD: “… but whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5 R60). To keep His word is to obey it, for only in this way will we walk as He walked: loving, forgiving, serving and obeying for the glory of His name. When we keep His commandments we show that we love Him (John 14:21-24). And that obedience to His commandments must be the result of love, for otherwise it would not be obedience, but mere compliance. The obedience that pleases God comes from love; only so will there be fruit and not works.
II. LOVING ONE ANOTHER: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:12 R60). Love is not a feeling, but an action on behalf of and in spite of. When we love one another, we show that God dwells in us and His love has been perfected in us. The thermometer that measures the intensity of your love for God is the love for your brother, and you will only be able to love others when the love of God dwells in your heart. Therefore, there is no way that you can love God and not your brother, because that shows that you are a liar, for there is no love in you. Let us love God by loving our brothers.
III. TRUSTING IN GOD: “By this love has been perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17 R60). That is, we must be confident that we abide in God and God in us, so that when the day of judgment comes we do not flee in fear. That is why it is necessary that we be perfected in love, because only so will we be able to live confidently in this world, waiting for the fulfillment of His promise. The confidence that He has made us new creatures, that we have been born again, gives us the joy of His salvation, and it is a powerful weapon against doubt and unbelief in this world.
IV. NOT FEARING, BUT LOVING: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment. And he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18 R60). Fear distances us from love. He who fears God neither draws near nor surrenders himself, and therefore cannot love, because love becomes a relationship. Where there is no love there is no peace, because fear paralyzes us, torments us. He who loves does not fear, but casts out all fear, for otherwise he could not act on behalf of others. We must come to God with confidence, because He not only loved us, but demonstrated His love to us by giving His Son for us (John 3:16). We must live confidently in the vicarious substitutionary work of Christ, so that when the day of His second coming arrives, we may run joyfully to meet Him, knowing that we are going into the arms of Him who loved us first (v. 19).
Beloved, the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of love, because it is served in love, obeyed in love and lived in love. Our Lord Jesus Christ came and gave His life for us because the love of God gave Him the strength to do so, and God in turn loved Him for His supreme sacrifice (John 10:17). Love is not something feeble, but something strong, powerful, capable of any sacrifice. The only way we will be perfected in love is by loving. That was the new commandment that Jesus gave us (“That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” – John 13:34 R60), and it is also the sign that identifies us as Christians: love. Let it not happen to us as to those two drunkards who one night got into a boat to cross to the other side, and they rowed and rowed, but could not make any headway. The place they were heading to would have taken them 15 minutes, but several hours had already passed and they were not even getting close. Then one of them said: “I think this boat is bewitched.” To which the other answered: “I am afraid that the ones who are bewitched are the two of us.” He said it because of all the alcohol they had consumed, but even so they kept on rowing hard. Dawn came upon them at that work, and one of them, whose drunkenness had already worn off, looked at the water and shouted: “Good grief, my friend, you never weighed the anchor!” These men had spent the whole night rowing, but they forgot to weigh the anchor.
The story struck me as funny, and I know that many will laugh at the foolishness of those two, but now you will be able to understand the meaning of my words. It may be that many of us are rowing ceaselessly with our prayers, sweating in doing our good works, rowing with our service in the church, paddling with our ministries, pulling at the oars with our impeccable church attendance, hauling with our Bible reading, but like those two drunkards, we have not weighed the anchor of love. Without love nothing we do is worthwhile or makes sense, for to God it simply means nothing. Love must be the engine of our motivations, the flame of our feelings, and the arm that draws us near to God and keeps us in Him. Love God and your brothers so that the fruit of love may be seen in your life and you may love the soul of the lost and even your enemies. I pray to God that this may be fulfilled in my life and in yours, for the glory of His name, amen.
