Do Not Fear

Our Theme for June

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:18

 

This Grace for All podcast gets its name from a famous quote by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism in his sermon entitled, Free Grace.  In that sermon, Wesley proclaims, “The grace of God, whence cometh our salvation, is free in all and free for all.” 

 

Grace—God’s favor, freely given in and for all of God’s creation—lies at the heart of John Wesley’s (and therefore Methodism’s) understanding of the very nature of God. Because of his belief that all is grace, Wesley also believed that Christian perfection was possible for believers in this lifetime.  Wesley believed this because he always saw God as the primary actor in relation to God’s creation.  You and I can seek God through prayer, study, and Christian action, but we are not truly transformed by these things.  These actions simply create more opportunity for us to experience God’s grace.  And it is God’s grace alone—unmerited favor freely given by God as a gift to us—that transforms.  For Wesley, to believe that humans could not be made perfect in this lifetime would be to deny the transformative power of God’s grace. 

 

The writer of 1 John is also pointing out the transformative power of God’s grace in this passage, when he writes that perfect love casts out all fear, and conversely that continuing to fear is the evidence that we have not been perfected in love.  I am paraphrasing here, but Wesley said it this way—if love reigns in our hearts, we can no longer be slaves to fear.  

 

Now I don’t think this means that God wants us to feel guilt or shame when we are afraid, thinking that fear represents some deficit of faith or love on our part.  That would suggest that the answer to fear is to try harder, to love God more.  That’s backwards.  Instead, I think it means that the answer to fear is to allow God to love us more, to receive more of God’s love, to ask for more of God’s grace, to accept the love of God not because we have earned it, but because God has given it.  When we let go of the selfish things we hold on to, especially our stubborn self-reliance, and make more and more space for the love of God to enter into our hearts and souls and minds, there is no room for fear. 

 

Would you join me in prayer? 

God of love, come into my heart and fill it.  When I am tempted to rely on myself and to lean on my own understanding, help me let go, and instead receive your perfect love which casts out all fear.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

 

Today’s devotional was written and read by Greta Smith.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.