Monday June 24, 2024

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

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 casts 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 loves 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.

Tozer on the Almighty God : A 366-Day Devotional (WingSpread, 2004)
Scripture for opening text taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.