"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."
1John 4:18 (NRSV)
Prodigal Thoughts: At the first reading, this verse reminds me of when I first met my wife. I knew on our first date that we would be married. (Thankfully, she had that same feeling.) Our love for one another was so powerful that I felt I could do anything! I could conquer the world…or at least the southeast US. The amazing thing is that God’s love for us is so intense and so powerful that the love that we have for our fellow humankind would seem like an acquaintance-type relationship. Not that we could ever fully understand or feel the depth of our Father’s love for us, but what if we constantly lived in a manner where we pursued God’s love as our main focus of each day. To better comprehend His love for us. How would that change our daily lives? Also, if perfect love casts out fear, then could we safely say that perfect love can make us fearless? God’s perfect love helps us to be confident and bold and with the Holy Spirit guiding us and stirring our hearts, there is really nothing we couldn’t overcome, right? Are you ready for that kind of life? I mean, people ridiculed Jesus for living like this. It just plain freaked people out. The apostles and the Jesus followers lived with the same ridicule, yet they still love recklessly. Who’s with me?
Prayer for today: Father, I thank You for loving us so incredibly much just the amount of love You have for us would fill and overflow even the deepest seas. There is no way we could ever fathom the level of love and grace that You have stored up for us. I pray that You show us how to accept Your love and grace, and that as we do, that it would pour out of every fiber of our being. That it would be unmistakable that the source of our love and grace could only be You. I pray that You would give us the eyes to see and the heart to love those around us that the world has claimed are unloveable. May we see hearts changed as a result of the love You pour through us into others. I pray that we make you proud. I love You, Papa. Amen.
Need prayer? You can reply here or you can send me a facebook message through the Prodigal Thinker page. If this encourages you, feel free to share it. Feel free to reply with feedback as well. I’m always open to discussion.
God’s grace on you…
Prodigal Thinker 