“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”
A war rages in my heart: a desire for love on one side and for emotional safety on the other. I have felt this battle for as long as I can remember. I want to give and receive love, yet I long to keep my heart safe. Basically, I want all the benefits of relationship while living in the protective bubble of my comfort zone.
But that’s not how love works. The true definition of love is God himself. All he does and is flows from love—and that led him to take on broken flesh as our Messiah. True love led Love to a self-sacrificing death on a cross. Likewise, if we are to truly love, it will cost everything we have. True love will never be comfortable in the way we hope. It is inherently risky, calling us into scary territory, where there are no emotional guarantees.
Fear of feeling this much prompts us to shut the doors of our hearts and burrow deep in our comfort zones. Comfort addiction motivates us to keep emotional distance from anyone who might hurt us or drain us or require something of us.
But God has a remedy for us. His perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). The more we know God’s love, the less sway fear has. God’s love calls us out of hiding so that we can extend his love to others. Loving others as God does is anything but comfortable. And we will never know true love cooped up all alone in our comfort zones.
Reflect:
Read 1 John 4:18 a few times. In what ways are you living in fear instead of love?
Pray:
How have you been trying to love from the security of your comfort zone? Ask the Lord to help you venture out and extend his love to people in need.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
A Christian reconciliation group in Israel and Palestine warned that war would come. Now the war threatens their relevance.españolالعربيةFrançais
After lobbying from fellow Southern Baptists and Christians affected by the war, the House speaker moves a package forward.
