Monday, January 23, 2006

No fear in love

Jim West's new blog has a decidedly pastoral slant to it, as opposed to the more academic slant of his previous one. He had a good post on Friday on I John 4:18. Here's a portion of it:

"...those who know the love of God know that everything that happens has to receive God's permission first. And if God permits it, he knows what he's doing and that "all things work together for good to those who love God" as Paul reminds his Roman readers. Indeed, for such persons, terror is a toothless dog. It barks, it growls, it may even bite- but it's bite is ineffective; nothing more than a shadow of a jest.

"Perfect love casts fear aside because fear is the absence of love, and trust. Leave fear to those who do not trust God. It's their territory. Let them have it since it's a desert anyway that no one in their right mind would want to inhabit."

<idle musing>
As I commented on his site:
"Excellent observation. This text has been coming to my mind many times lately with the avian flu scare and the terrorist scare and the price of gasoline and natural gas rising and... One could go on and on. But, with God in control, there need be no fear. It ties in very nicely with Matthew 6 about the birds and flowers--we need a heavenly perspective."
</idle musing>

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