12 Nov. God's love drives away fear
"Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God."
"Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
"This is how God showed his love to us: he sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him."
"This is what real love is: it is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending his Son to be the way to take away our sins."
"Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other. No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made perfect in us."
"We know that we live in God and he lives in us, because he gave us his Spirit. We have seen and can testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God has God living inside, and that person lives in God..."
"God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. This is how love is made perfect in us: that we can be without fear on the day God judges us, because in this world we are like him."
"Where God's love is, there is no fear, because God's perfect love drives out fear..."
"We love because God first loved us. If people say, 'I love God', but hate their brothers or sisters, they are liars. Those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have never seen."
(1 John 4: 7-20)
As John comes towards the end of his First Letter, he urges the believers to love one another “because love comes from God” (1 John 4:7).
He reminds his readers that people who hate others don't know what God's love is really all about. “This is what real love is: … it is God’s love for us in sending his Son to be the way to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10).
John tells them that no-one has ever seen God the Father, but God lives in union with them if they love one another. And John has actually seen God’s Son – whom he sent to be the Saviour of the world.
In reality, those who give their lives to Jesus have God the Holy Spirit living within them. "And so we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love." (1 John 4:16)
John then encourages the believers to be fearless on the ‘Day of Judgement’: “Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).
John points out that it's impossible to love God (who no one has seen) if you don't love your brothers and sisters (who you have seen). He concludes by reminding them of God’s command: “Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters” (1 John 4:21).
The photo shows children at an orphanage run by a Christian church in Kenya.
You can read through the whole of John's First Letter @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/gods-love-drives-away-fe…/