God So Loved the World

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10).

God is love, so His loving is not something He may do nor not do at His will. Loving us is not an intermittent act or series of acts which God does in between other acts. His love flows steadily out upon the whole human race in an unbroken and continuous fullness. There is not a time, not a fraction of time, when God's love is not active toward us. It is as constant as the being of God, for it is the being of God in unforced, normal expression.

We are often tempted to wonder how God could love us, but honest as this feeling is, it is nevertheless the result of a wrong way of looking at things. God does not love us because we are hard or easy to love; He loves us because He is God, not because we are good or bad or more attractive or less so. God's love is not drawn out of Him by its object; it flows out from God in a steady steam because He is love.

"God so loved the world," not because the world was lovable but because God is love. Christ did not die for us that God might love us; He died for us because God already loved us from everlasting. Love is not the result of redemption; it is the cause of it.

Father, I'm so glad You didn't look for something lovable within me before deciding to redeem me. While I was yet a sinner You loved me and chose me. You gave me the gift of life. I praise You. Amen

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Love Casts Out Fear

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." (1 John 4:18).

Love always wills the good of its object and never wills any harm to its object. If you love somebody, really love him, you'll want to be good to him and to do good to him. You'll never want any harm to come to him if you can help it. If I know a man loves me, I'm not afraid of him. If I'm not sure he does, I may be a bit cagey around him. Love cast out fear, for when we know we are loved, we are not afraid. Whoever has God's perfect love, fear is gone out of the universe for him.

All real fear goes when we know that God loves us, because fear comes when we're in the hands of someone who does not will our good. A little boy lost in a department store will stand in a paroxysm of hysterical fear; people's faces are strange, even those who want to be kind. The child is afraid that he may be in the hands of somebody who wills him harm. But when he sees the familiar face of his mother, he runs sobbing to her and climbs into her arms. He's never afraid in the hands of his mother, because experience has taught him that Mother wills his good. Perfect love casts out his fear' When the mother is not there, fear fills the little child's heart, but Mother's kind, smiling, eager face drives out fear.

Lord, help me to really know Your love for me, that any fear I may have will disappear. Thank You for Your peace which surpasses comprehension. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~