Do you think of faith as the opposite to fear? It is the opposite to intimidation, fright and terror. But the apostle John writes that to those who believe, the opposite to fear is God’s reassuring love, within them. God does not just love: He is Love (1 John 4:8).
Moreover, the Apostle John writes that we love God because He first loved us. It was the basis of our relationship. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Love is not a duty on our part but is our response to God’s initiative.
Some Christians fear that God does not fully accept them, and that in the Resurrection they may be acceptable in Jesus — but only just. They see themselves as unworthy of His absolute acceptance in this life, never mind the next life. But as John reiterates: “God is self-sacrificing love, and whoever continues to selflessly love remains in intimate relationship with God and God with him.” (Kingdom of God Version NT)
But wait — there’s more! “And herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in The Day of Judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world.” God’s love for us was revealed in His sacrificial gift to us of His beloved Son Jesus. We reciprocate by loving Him and those around us. “There is no fear in love,” John writes, “for perfect love expels fear.”
Not just lesser fears in life, but fear of possible rejection by God. “Fear has torment,” writes John, “and the one who fears [God] is not perfected in love.” Our love for God may be as imperfect as it is with other things that we value in life. We may have certainty as to our salvation and yet retain a lingering sense of insecurity as to whether God does really, truly and unreservedly love and accept us. But perfection is final and by definition fault-free.
What more can God do to show His love for you than He has done? Why flagellate yourself emotionally over your failures? If you find it difficult to love others, the reason may be that you have not fully accepted that God loves and accepts you, fully and finally. Yes, God chastises you now and then for doing wrong things, but that is only because He is in process of removing things objectionable to Him, so that you will not be answerable when you stand before Jesus to be rewarded.
As someone once wrote: “God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way.” “Boldness in The Day of Judgement”? Yes! In the form of the confidence we shall have when ushered into the Lord’s presence? Definitely. Certainly. Absolutely. God has been building it into you while you’ve been reading this post.