Real Hope: No Fear in LoveSample

Holding Firm

Perfect love. We spend our lives searching for it, don’t we? ‘The one’ that is promised to us in all rom coms. Ironically, our desire to find it actually means that we short-change ourselves. If we can’t find perfect love with this person, we’ll try to get it from that one. In our pursuit of perfect love, fear is inescapable. The fear of missing out on it can be incapacitating. It can take our thoughts down a destructive rabbit hole as we turn more and more inward, solely focusing on our needs and desires.

Our pursuit for perfect love is just that – it’s ours. But God’s perfect love doesn’t need to be pursued. It doesn’t need to be hunted down. It is freely given. It is His free gift that casts out all fear.

But fear is an interesting concept. I used to think that fear was the opposite of faith, and that if I was fearful it was because I didn’t have enough faith. Fear is present in all of us, but it’s what we do with it that truly matters. There’s one major difference between a hero and a coward. Both of them feel fear, but one steps forward, and the other steps back.

So, when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified, His perfect love for you is what kept Him focused through it. Physically, His body was sweating like drops of blood. Emotionally and spiritually, He was encountering a wrestle with the Father like never before. But His resolve held firm because He knew that His perfect love for you would reconcile you to the Father. What an incredible gift!

Written by BREE BOND