1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.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.19 We love Him because He first loved us

What is the opposite of FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real)?  If you said faith, you are absolutely wrong.  What??  How in the world can I say that?  Well I’m not saying it, the “Word” is very clear, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”  We can trust Paul when he reminds us in 2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  The real opponent to Fear is Love, and the more we know about God’s Love for us, we will be able to truly overcome the “Big Bully” of every believer (FEAR).

Since I’m pretty sure that we all can read, there should not be a great deal of arguing with vs 18 and the fact that God’s love cast out fear.  The “perfect love” refers to the agape love of God that is unlike any love that we are capable of.  This kind of love, we find very difficult to even comprehend, and therefore realize that only God’s love can indeed be “perfect love.”  It should also be easy to agree that “casts out” means to throw out, toss aside, get rid of or kick out.  This is what God’s perfect love does to our fear:

God’s Love Gives Confidence: Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. While we know that Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross was the greatest act of love mankind has ever witnessed.  It is His finished work on that rugged cross that provides “boldness” to all that have accepted Jesus as Savior.  You see we now know that in that day of judgment we do not have to be afraid of the eternal punishment that those who have not received the free gift from God, will receive.  When you know that you have won the game before it started, it gives you confidence going in. It’s like when Q (my best friend) and I play spades against anyone, we already know the outcome before a card is played, we have confidence!  Just as we
can go boldly to the throne of Grace (Heb 4:16) because of Jesus our High Priest, His sacrifice on the cross allows us to “have boldness in the day of judgment.”

God’s Love Perfects Us: because as He is, so are we in this world. Jesus is perfect and when He walked
the earth as man He did so perfect.  In fact it was not until he was on the cross that anything negative was ever
associated with Him.  You see it was then that He became as we were, so that we might be “as He is.”  In this world we have been afforded everything Jesus has access to. It is our inheritance, so whatever our Daddy owns we own.  It is God’s love that has made us the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:21), by allowing our sins to be exchanged for Jesus’ righteousness.  Jesus has made us like Him, His blood has covered all of our imperfections.  When we know & believe this, fear can have no chance power over us .

God’s Love Endures: We love Him because He first loved us.  No matter how far we run, or how much we try to hide, we cannot escape the Love God has for each one of us.  No amount of foolishness or bad decision, no amount of rebellion or unbelief can keep God from loving us. His love continues to chase us down and overtake us, after all God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).  I know that your life might not seem like it right now, your circumstance might make you feel the very opposite but, I guarantee that God’s love will never cease.  He has sought us out in our lowest moments, protected us from our greatest enemy (ourselves) and forgiven us of everything, even when we paid Him
no mind.  God has provided us every opportunity to receive His unbelievable love, but the problem is we do not
believe it.  Check this out, the Greek word, euaggelion, which was translated “gospel” in seventy-four New Testament verses, actually means “nearly-too-good-to-be-true news.  The reason we have such a hard time believing just how much we are loved by God and that Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins is because it is literally “too good to be true,” but it is VERY TRUE.  The Lord’s agape (unconditional love) for us is amazing and with a love like that we cannot help but love Him back.

Conclusion: God’s agape love cast out all fear and when we believe His love for us, our fears can be removed.  They are removed because we can be confident in the day of judgment, made perfect under the cover
of Jesus’ blood and unable to escape His love no matter how hard we try.  This love does not puff us up, as a
matter  of fact it is very humbling, and should help us to stop allowing FEAR to render us powerless.  Know that God first loved us because He wants us to be fearless.

Your Brother,
Mark