Love & Fear

   Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

   We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
     
   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 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.

This was originally supposed to be an expository study on love vs fear. But, now that I’ve tried doing that… and this is turning into a topical / story-telling piece instead. Maybe it’s not really possible to do an expository study on a topic. :chuckles: Imagine that…   My apologies, little sis.

First and foremost. Love. Love looks strangely out of place in this world. Don’t you agree? Next to selfishness we have the idea of sacrifice. Instead of the dog-eat-dog, we have elements of respect and of honor. Instead of grudges we have forgiveness. In lieu of treating others as they treat us, we have the ideal of treating others as we wish to be treated. Loving someone not because they are somehow deserving or have earned it, but rather because it is in Love’s nature to pursue and reach out.

I’ve read over that passage about 3 times. and prayed over it. The passage didn’t get any clearer… But my mind did go off on a somewhat profitable tangent (at least I thought so), so I shall digress. I thought about how it says in the bible that God is love. But I’m not talking about this cultural idea we have (that smells suspiciously of lust / just affection). Not that watered-down, not-filling version… I’m talking about the biblical version. Patient, kind, unfailing. How often have you or I been in the grips of something like that? The kind of love that says it is willing to wait. A love that covers over wrongs. A love that is altruistic (think: gallent knight!). Now add to this the other pieces of God we know of: God’s might. God’s provider nature. His intimate knowledge of us… inside and out. His righteousness and desire for justice.

Now imagine yourself in the grips of Mr. God/Love… He is more than enough to address any of our fears. He is strong enough to make our fears run home with it’s tail between it’s legs. Disengage yourself from Him and…  well, I don’t know what to say.

On another tangent, hate is not the opposite of love. Hate is just love twisted out of shape. Take the emotional energy within that drives us to hate and I think we’ll find that they are very similiar to what drives us to love. The opposite of love is apathy & fear. Paranoid thoughts and lack of compassion. I’d take a hateful person over an apathetic person. You can communicate with a hateful person in a meaningful way. But when someone is in the grips of apathy, what meaningful communication can you have? They just don’t give a crap. I care only for myself. I always got to keep my eye out on #1. I’d rather be eating rather than eaten.

Dad, you rock. Help us to reflect You better in our daily lives. I ask this in the name of the one who showed us first, Jesus. Amen.
=== Online Tidbits ===

Order in the court!
Snot By Tizzy
Water – The magic potion (PG)

== Other ==

It’s surprising how some things just stick in your mind.

Don’t stick forks in your eye.

Life’s Simple Pleasures

— tagged by the xangian former known as alilkrji (welcome back~)

Name 10 of life’s simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick 10 people to do the same.
(Be original and creative)

01. Building something out of sand at the beach
02. Watching the waves
03. Water Ice after a long and crazy workout
04. Back Massages
05. Talking to goldfish
06. Sipping coffee at the wrong time with good friends
07. Wrestling
08. Singing praises with spirit and truth
09. Bear Hugs
10. Dancing like no one’s watching

hmm, who to tag. I’ll tag oneeyedking, e7sense, simp1e_song, gusgus, esohn80, Hahacincin2, ocean_floor, TizzyAlexander, Wangnation, & Exit39.