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.
Serving in a manner that pleases God requires love. Simply going through the motions of serving is not enough. But it takes a heart that’s led by genuine, sincere love.
But in reality, loving the way God loves does not come natural to us. It is a kind of love that looks beyond faults and sees need.
It is a kind of love that recognizes that the object of love doesn’t deserve it, but the giver of love gives it anyway.
It’s a kind of love that has divine purpose attached to it. Meaning, it’s not about endearing a person to us. But it’s about pointing a person to God, Himself.
It’s a “Silver and gold, I don’t have. But such as I have, I give to you” kind of love. I may not have what you want, but God has assigned me to show you what you need. And you need Him more than anything.
God commands that we love. But loving others is not always easy. It comes with risks.
We risk rejection.
We risk judgment.
We risk a person responding to our love with hate.
Jesus knew this best. He loved those who hated him. And as we interact with fallen mankind, we will find those that love who hates them. And hates those that love them.
At any given time, if we try to serve without love being the center of our motivation, we will find ourselves resentful or fearful of God’s call to love.
Love is such a beautiful thing. It’s powerful. It’s life-altering.
Why in the world would we resent the call by God to love? Especially after being benefactors of his love ourselves.
In our human nature, it’s easy to love those that love us back. So when we encounter those that reject our love and respond with hate, we naturally want to respond by going in the opposite direction — just leave that person alone. Or, as it’s being encouraged in today’s society, we would match their energy. So, if they hate us, we hate them. We go where we’re celebrated, not tolerated. You cancel me, I’ll cancel you.
But Jesus modeled something totally different than this.
Michelle Obama said “When they go low, we go high.”
So if they respond with hate, we respond with love. This is the Jesus way.
Luke 6:32,35,36
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.35 but love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the most high, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.36 be merciful, just as your father is merciful.
Jesus didn’t love us because we loved Him.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In other words, we did nothing to deserve Jesus’ love for us. We did nothing to earn His love for us. He demonstrated His love towards us, in spite of us not loving Him back.
I thank God that Jesus didn’t match our energy. I thank God that He didn’t cancel me even though I had canceled Him in my sin and rebelliousness. I thank God!
This is the example that Jesus sets for us to follow. So we pray, “God, help me to love.”
Help me to love when it’s difficult.
Help me to love when I’m angry. Help me to love when I’ve been mistreated.
Help me to love when I’ve been used and abused.
Help me to love when I’ve been abandoned.
Help me to love when I’ve been rejected.
Help me to love when I’ve been disrespected.
Help me to love like You!
God will help us love. Because when we love, it is when we share in His likeness and image the most. God is love. Loving others is the most godly thing you could ever do. Love is a bold and powerful expression of the very nature of God, Himself.
We must understand the weight of our call to love if we’re going to be able to love without fear.
Love is not just what we are to do. It’s who we are. The children of God are expressions of love in this dying world.
Loving others requires sacrifice and vulnerability. This can be a scary place. Taking the risk to love someone that hates you doesn’t make you feel secure at all. It’s a possibility that they may never love you back. Jesus knows this very well.
Love requires sacrifice because it considers the other person above self. Sometimes love will cause you to put yourself on the back burner. It will cause you to consider yourself less. And that’s a scary thought to think that someone could take advantage of you because you love them.
God understands all of our concerns and all of our apprehensions. This is why we can pray to Him to love without fear.
We understand that when we do have fear, that it’s not a spirit that comes from God.2
Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
That spirit shows up in how we think, feel and reason. And ultimately in how we move.
So, we can think and feel and reason our way out of moving in love. And we can feel justified in doing so.
So initially, we have to recognize upfront, that whenever we’re struggling to love, whether it is because of fear or any other driving force, it’s not of God.
Fear is also understood as timidly or cowardice.
Fear paralyzes us.
Fear builds up walls instead of bridges.
Fear will cause us to distance ourselves from others.
Fear will cause us to become critical of others in order to justify our lack of obedience to God to love them.
I’m saying that, to say that fear has many faces. It doesn’t just show up with feelings of nervousness or insecurity. Oftentimes, fear is masked as other resistive mindsets.
Whatever the case may be, God tells us to boldly move in power, love and discipline (sound mind).
When I consider “discipline”, this communicates to “do it anyway”.
Do it even when you’re nervous. Do it even when you’re feeling insecure.
Do it even when you feel inadequate.
Do it even when you feel unqualified.
Do it even when you feel scared.
Before I came to the Lord, I used to be very shy. People didn’t know it. Being in front of other people would make me very nervous. Even if I didn’t have to speak. But when I came to the Lord, it was obvious that God had a calling on my life that would require me to be before people from time to time.
I would sit in Bible classes and the thought of making a comment would make my heart race. Despite feeling of nervous, I had stronger feelings to share because I felt strongly that what I had to share could really help somebody.
So I made a rule for myself. If the thought of sharing what’s on my mind makes my heart race, then I had to say it.
Over time, disciplining myself to speak, (even though I was nervous), it became easier to do and I became less fearful. Now, I seldom deal with any type of nervousness or fearfulness when I have to speak.
When we discipline ourselves to do what God calls us to do in the face of fear or apprehension, He gives us boldness and power to do it again and again. We no longer operate in the weakness of our own inadequacies. But we operate in the power that God gives us through His Spirit.
Many people have committed to making Kingdom contributions while feeling fearful.
Why? Because when they serve publicly in any way, it opens them up to criticism. Who wants to volunteer themselves to be put on a platform to be criticized and scrutinized? Nobody!
And I’ll add this too: nobody does more criticizing than the folk that don’t do anything.
But they did it because the opportunity to serve was stronger than the desire to avoid criticism. They are determined to do what they believed God has called them to do.
They did it scared.
They did it nervous.
They did it feeling insecure and inadequate.
But they did it to please God, to make a Kingdom contribution and to serve others.
Fear doesn’t have to be a person for any of us. God will give us everything that we need in order to love Him and to love others without fear. All for His glory!
God, I thank You for loving us in spite of us. I ask God that you empower us to love others. For those that are dealing with fear, I ask You to help them recognize that You are the source of their power. Help them rely on Your strength to do what You have called them to do. I pray that they will discipline themselves to be obedient to the call that You have on their lives. And with time, trusting more and more, that You will strengthen them and give them the boldness they need to love and serve You and others.In Jesus’ name
Amen
*Tressa Jo
BeyondSeeLevel 