Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made in perfect love. We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:18-19 (emphasis added)

Once it was given, the Old Covenant was centred around the Law. Do this, don’t do that. If you do this, I will do that. If you do that, you will be punished. There was judgment on sin on humanity. It was just and deserved punishment once they knew what good and right behaviour was. It’s part of why the word ‘fear’ was chosen when it came to translation. Because when it is respect up the ladder of authority, there is the implication that when those at the top are displeased there is punishment for those below. Ironically — as with most issues of authority — we have zero problem with this in our day-to-day lives but a lot of problems with it when it comes to spirituality. If we speed, we’ll get a ticket. We understand and accept the contract, even if we grumble about it when we’re caught (usually because we feel that the other guy was going much faster). If you fail at your job, the boss chews you out. In some cases we even get fined. When the head of a company and the vice head of the company disagree and the head of the company makes a decision, the vice accepts it. Just like the head has to accept responsibility for it if it goes wrong. The vice head may not agree. May even grumble or be bitter. But they go along. But transfer that to spiritual or emotional situations? How dare the husband get to make a decision for the family or the bible say the wife needs to submit (it IS submission, it is NOT slavery or a consent to abuse or tyranny). How could a God of love get to decide there’s only one way into His kingdom?

The word that was translated ‘fear’ for fear of the Lord was mistranslated. ‘Reverence’ is a much better choice. We are to be reverent to the Lord. Because His ways are above our ways. We look for reasons and justifications and fairness and degrees. None of that exists with the Lord. The Lord is. I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). We are to reverence Him because His nature is worthy of reverence. He doesn’t ‘decide’ there is only one way, there IS only one way into His Kingdom. He requires obedience because obedience is the only acceptable response when dealing with a perfect being. Anything that perfect being says, goes. Because they are perfect, holy, awesome, mighty, merciful, and loving. By His very nature, Yahweh God determines the behaviour, thoughts, actions, and worship that is right and good and just because only the behaviour, thoughts, actions, and worship that align with His nature are right and good and just. Period. There are no shades of thinking, no deep analysis, no discussion. He IS, His nature IS, and what is RIGHT is RIGHT because it is RIGHT. This is TRUTH. Plain, unvarnished, and clear TRUTH.

God shows us what the price for sin is, and He is able to deal out justice for sin, paying the price for it. If we stand on ourselves it is inevitable that we are doomed. We deserve to be fried. Because the price for sin is beyond what we can pay (Romans 6:23). Thank the Father He gave His only begotten son for the punishment (John 3:16). Thank Jesus that He was willing to die for us — volunteering out of love for us (John 10:17-18). Thank the God of Love that He has gone out of His way every time to make sure that we have an easy way into His Kingdom. And a way that lasts forever. Jesus paid the price. He took the punishment. It’s on Him. Every sin you ever did and every sin you will ever do, it is on Him. YOU never get punished. YOU never get a chewing out. YOU never get a ticket. YOU are free in Jesus who died and was resurrected to life again for you. We are in the NEW Covenant. If you CHOOSE to be.

You’re on the path to hell and eternal damnation because you are sinful. Period. No one is sending you there. It is the natural destination for sin. It was not meant for humanity. It is meant only for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). But if you are in sin that’s where you’re going because that is where sin goes. Period. Yahweh God provided us an out. A door. A way to get off the sin-death-hell path and live. If we choose life, we can live. If we don’t, we’ll march into hell against the will of the Lord God Almighty (1 Timothy 2:3-7). Our choice. Our action. Our free will. Not God doing it, us choosing it.

The new covenant is centred and steeped in the blood of Jesus that He shed for us and remits our sins (Matthew 26:28). We’re asked to repeat the taking of the fruit of the vine and the bread and remember the Lord when we do it (1 Corinthians 11:25-26). We’re servants in this covenant. Servants in the Spirit of Christ which is sufficient for all things and makes us sufficient in it (Hebrews 3:4-6). With this covenant, the laws of God are put into our minds and written on our hearts (Hebrews 8:7-12 & Jeremiah 31:31-34). And it is a covenant where Jesus Himself is our mediator and through Him and His sacrifice the Father provides us with eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15). We haven’t made this covenant. God made it. And by His Grace, we enter into it through Faith. We’re covered. We can choose to live it. We can choose to walk in it. If we do, we’ll seek to obey Him because we love Him and we want to please Him.

This is NOT freedom to do whatever comes into our heads. To indulge in what our flesh desires. To do what we think is best. To run our lives however we want. “Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? May it never be!” (Romans 6:1-2). “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!” (Romans 6:15) “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be!” (Romans 7:7). Jesus came to fulfil the law, not end it (Matthew 5:17-18). What does that mean? That if we live the way Jesus calls us to, then we’ll keep all the laws that without Jesus we have no hope of keeping. Don’t believe me? Read Romans 13:9-10: “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not give false testimony,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.”

We don’t have to watch everything we do in the same way those under the old covenant did. We don’t have to constantly offer sacrifice to God to be temporarily cleansed like they did. With each action and breath, we can go before the throne of God to worship and receive instruction. We can be ready to listen, learn, praise, and be corrected. God only corrects those He loves (Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6). Never fear correction from the Lord. Embrace it and walk where He asks and how He asks. We are free of the law, but through Grace we keep the law IN CHRIST. We can choose not to fear and receive His love. His love is perfect and there is no punishment in it because in Christ all the price has been paid for sin (John 3:17). Goodwill to humanity. There is nothing. Nothing. That can separate us from the Lord’s love (Romans 8:35-39).

The Lord’s love is perfect, brings peace, and never condemns His children. Reject fear, and embrace His Faith and Love today. Enter into the place of Blessing, not the place of do’s and don’ts. If you abide in Jesus, you won’t want to do the don’ts and you won’t be able to help doing the do’s. Jesus does it all. When we abide in Him, He’ll do it all in our lives as well. Renewing us into Him. It’s the process of sanctification and as we ever seek His face, He will ever continue to sanctify us. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. The Lord’s love is perfect, it is rewarding, it is ever-renewing us, and we can walk in the total freedom of obedience as we are sanctified toward that day when we stand before Him in our heavenly bodies fully cleansed, renewed, and shining like the Lord Jesus Himself — because we are in Him and He in us and on that day there will be nothing bad left inside us. He will have perfected His work in us. Amen.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Painters paint. Potters pot. Sculptors sculpt. Drawers draw. Every artist has their medium. And in that medium they produce works. What we hear from them after they have completed something is that they have ‘poured themselves into it’. That they love it. That it is just the way they envisioned it — but better. The work represents hours of concentration, crafting, and dedication. To make sure every little tiny bit of it is exactly what they wanted. They often incorporate mistakes, turning those accidents into something usable and a worthy part of the whole. Jesus does the same thing. He sanctifies us. It is a process that starts at salvation and will end when we are face to face with the Father in heaven — but maybe not even then. Sanctification is about more than getting the bad out. It is about getting the good in. Jesus, specifically. Crafting us as a master potter might craft a vessel. With love and dedication. Taking all that we are and making us all we can be in Him. He does it with love, from love, and because of love. As much as we don’t always enjoy the process of taking away the bad, we are always more free, more joyful, more peaceful, and more like Him when it is gone. Jesus loves us and is pouring Himself into us every single day. And He won’t stop until we’re perfect and glorious and just the way He always envisioned us — but better.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.