To Be Loved (Daily Encouragement Series)
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. – 1 John 4:18-19
We all think we need various things to be happy, to have a good life, to make things better. But at the core, what we need is to know we are loved. When we know we are loved, it overrides any fear we may have in life. You see it in kids who grow up in a loving and safe environment. You see it in marriage as both spouses flourish when they know they are loved. Over the next few days, we are going to explore and be reminded of the best news in the world – that GOD loves us. When we understand and are shaped by this, it changes everything. Our friends at Trueface put it like this*:
What does it mean to be loved? You might fear it is a gushy, vague, almost unwanted and cloying thing. But to be loved is to be known. Of course you might fear that. For you know yourself too well.
But what if you were known by Someone who cared more about you than you care about yourself? What would that be like? Someone who knows everything about you and will not use it against you? Someone who calls attention to you and your good work, even when your motive is primarily but not completely healthy?
That someone is Christ. And as a believer, you have Christ in you. You are a new creation, otherwise known as “Christ in you!” You are fully known and completely loved, but not in some syrupy greeting-card kind of way. No, this is strong love, willing to move heaven and Earth and sacrifice everything and then some for you.
This is what scripture refers to as “perfect” love, the kind that drives out fear and never, ever abandons us.
We all have fear. We all have a need to be cared for. We all have a desire to be known. Be reminded today and live out of the reality that God’s love for you is perfect. He is in you and will never leave you or forsake you. He has and will move heaven and earth for you. He loves you.
*Trust for Today, p. 3.5