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No Fear In Love

 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (I John 4:18)

          Maybe I’m finally growing up. I’m pretty sure that over the years, I’ve thought of this verse in terms of the lover never doing anything that would cause the beloved to need to fear. The universe revolves around the beloved who can do whatever he /she wants without anyone frowning. I’m exaggerating a little, but only a little.

          As I consider the verse today, I find myself wondering if that slightly exaggerated perspective is completely wrong, or, at best, only half of the picture. What if the whole point is that the one who is loved endures the process of having fear driven out? What if the reason there is no fear is that one has learned to live in a way that doesn’t necessitate punishment? What if one learns that the “punishment” (AKA discipline) we endure produces in us a perfection that no longer needs to fear the punishment? What if the reason there is no fear in love is that the one who is loved has been made perfect in love?

          What if… the whole idea is that the one who is beloved learns to respond to what they once saw as punishment with courage instead of fear? What if the key to understanding this passage is not the universe revolving around the beloved, but the acceptance of the fact that the universe revolves around the Lover? As, indeed, it does!

          I don’t have answers to these questions, but it fits far better with the rest of Scripture than the idea that the beloved doesn’t fear because the Lover does nothing that doesn’t make the beloved happy.

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