Week 61: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear!

The system of God (lack of a better word) with man, can be determined right at the beginning of the Bible. Because of the existence of sin, blood shed is essential for the sinners to make right with God. This is seen when we look at the story of Adam and Eve. Right after they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, They hid themselves when God came looking for them.

This is the beginning where we see sin entered and separated man from God. Adam and Eve knew they sinned against God and they knew they were naked when their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.

Fig leaves in the Bible is referred to as "self-effort". As you can see from Adam's action. They tried to cover their own nakedness with fig leaves  But, what God did was He  clothe them with the animal skin. That is the first mentioned of animal sacrifice killed to cover man's sin.

When Adam tried to "clothe" themselves with fig leaves, they thought that that should do the job to put their right standing with God. But, they didn't realize that what sin did is that it actually removed the "glory of God" from them. They were "clothe" with the "glory of God" before they fell . But as soon as sin entered this world, that clothing were removed from them.

And when that glory of God was removed from them, they became afraid. In Gen 3:10, Adam said "I am afraid because I was naked..." Because, the moment the glory left him, he became sin- conscious. He looked inward and became guilt-conscious.

It's very much like a man, after a muddy run, felt dirty and won't think of going to a fine dining restaurant to eat without first cleaning up himself. Likewise, what sin did to Adam was it made him felt "dirty" and won't want to face the holy God.

With that in mind, when we read 2 Cor 3 where we are called to behold the glory of God, we can understand better, because Jesus' blood was shed to cleanse us from our sins, we can now put back on the "clothing of the glory of God" Amen! We no longer feel a shame (naked) because our right standing before God have been justified by His one and only Son, our Lord. Jesus, Hallelujah!

Notice when sin entered, it separated man from God and it made man fearful. Adam was afraid when God called for him. At some point in our lives we do fear and worry, isn't it? We cannot be  successful in our marriage, family and career when we are crippled and paralyzed with fear. It could be fear of failure, fear of success, fear of people's opinions of us or even fear that God is not with us. 

But, be of good cheer, because Jesus want to liberate us from all these fears. That's why very often you see in the gospel He said "Fear not..." " Don't be afraid..." "Peace be with you. Let not your heart be troubled..." Amen!

All the fears we are experiencing today begin with an untruth, a lie that we have somehow believed. It is good at this point we look at this Scripture which address the issue of fear.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

This scripture tells us that when we begin to have a revelation that God loves us perfectly( not because of what we accomplished, but because of what Jesus has accomplished for us), that revelation of the unmerited favor of Jesus will cast out every fear, every lie, every anxiety, every doubt and every worry. Hallelujah! The more we have a revelation of Jesus and how He has made you perfect, the more we will free ourselves to receive His complete shalom and reign in life! Amen!

That's why I never get tired talking to you about Jesus. Jesus is the answer to all our troubles and worries. Amen! If there's only one thing I need to do in life , it will be to point the people God put in my reach to Jesus. It is my greatest joy, because in Him, there is life and more abundantly. Hallelujah! And that absolute peace with God we have is beyond human expression for it is not dependent on the outward circumstances, it is rooted in our hearts. Amen!

The new covenant of grace is also known as the covenant of peace. Today, we stand upon the righteousness of Jesus and not our own. Today, because of Jesus, God says this to us " I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke(condemn) you. For the mountain s shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed" (Isaiah 54:9-10)

This month, as we celebrate the birthday of our wonderful Savior, Jesus, let's remember He did not come 2000 years ago to instill fear in us. Why would He need to do that when Adam was already fearful in the beginning when he sinned against God? He came so that He can liberate us, set us free from bondage, from fear. His perfect love is to help us cast out fear because He knew fear involves torment and that torment started right at the beginning when man fell. Amen!