Contemplative Bible Reading

1 John 4:18 (New Living Translation)

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 little research shows that I blogged about this verse back in 2009. Time flies, and I read the verse new and something presses on my heart.

The phrase that strikes me this time is fear of punishment. Fear comes from a fear of punishment. Someone is going to strike me down or sideways or something I don’t want.

In my current job, there is a phrase, “wait until your first fail.” I haven’t been here long and haven’t had my “first fail” so I don’t know what that means. Perhaps I should flub on purpose to learn what a first fail is and what happens to persons on that occasion. I guess I’m not afraid—perhaps that is a sign of age or something.

Then the fear-of-punishment phrase is followed by something about experiencing God’s perfect love. If I really believe that God is on my side in the eternal and important, so what about the “first fail” and other stuff around me. What do those things matter?

A friend of mine—20 years my senior—would use the phrase “growing old in the grace of God.” I think what he meant was that as the years pass, we slowly, very slowly sometimes, learn about the grace of God and what it really means to us R I G H T   N O W.

Thank you God for your perfect love that drives out the fear of punishment. Help me to live a life that shows others this love and your grace.