Daily Devotional (GPS)
Love Conquers Fear that leads to Lying
Daily Scripture
1 John 4:11-19
11 Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. 13 This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the savior of the world. 15 If any of us confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God remains in us and we remain in God. 16 We have known and have believed the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. 17 This is how love has been perfected in us, so that we can have confidence on the Judgment Day, because we are exactly the same as God is in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love because God first loved us.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Threatened by villain Maxime Le Mal, Gru wanted to hide his family under false identities. His youngest daughter objected to lying about her name, and her fearful dad asked, “Why can’t you be more like your sister Edith? She lies all the time.” * There may be times when using a false name is wise, but John clearly knew that fear can move you to embrace actions or attitudes that are the opposite of what God desires for you.
- John’s letter urged believers to remember daily that their ultimate destiny rests in the hands of the God who “is love.” John said that perfect love—that is, God’s love—casts out fear. John wasn’t writing about some abstract, sterile belief. It was a passionate, living, active trust that Jesus was no fairy tale, but was and is exactly who he said he is. How could that kind of trust have kept Gru from responding to his fear and trying to teach his daughter to “lie all the time”?
- John’s simple words are so familiar that we can miss the depth of his thought. “God IS love” was very different from saying “God loves” (as one of many qualities). Selfless, self-giving agape love is God’s very essence. In her book Many Waters, Madeleine l’Engle wrote that “all the raging of creation… was enfolded in a patient, waiting love.” ** How can it shift your view of life’s meaning and purpose to believe in a patient, waiting love, rather than just a cold, uncaring universe?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you that your love is a fixed point I can depend on in an ever-changing world. Keep me steady, stable, loving, and out of fear’s grip every day. Amen.
GPS Insights
Jennifer Creagar
Jennifer Creagar, who serves as the Community Assistance Coordination Director in Resurrection's Congregational Care Ministry, wrote today's Insights. She is married and loves spending time with her family, and she enjoys writing and photography.
for in you my soul takes refuge,
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge
until the destroying storms pass by.
What is the GPS?
Resurrection offers a free tool for those who wish to read the Bible daily. Our Grow/Pray/Study guide (GPS) provides a Bible reading, Scripture reflections based on the passage, inspirational quotes from leading Bible scholars, questions to help readers apply the Bible to their faith journey, and a daily prayer guide at the end of each day’s reflection. Many readers have told us the GPS has strengthened their spiritual growth and helped them better understand how to let the Bible guide them in Christian living.
