Love and Fear

Call To Prayer 

Title: Love and Fear 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

Date: 20.04.2024 

18 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 

I can say, there are two strategies you can use to make someone do something. The first is fear and the second is love. In the old covenant it was more about fear. They were mainly motivated by fear (see for instance Exodus 20: 18-20). Although the fear of God remains an important pillar in the new covenant we have through Jesus Christ, something greater than fear must drive us now and that is LOVE.  

The fear of God is very important. We must fear His righteous judgment. He punishes evil deeds and rewards good deeds (Romans 2:6). The book of wisdom also tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Isn’t it intriguing that it is the “beginning” not actually the full thing. Well, what comes mind here is that fear is only a starting point and that something more is needed to grow in wisdom.  

The fear of God will keep you from avoiding the extreme evil things; do the bare minimum e.g. I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t cheat etc. It is similar to what makes you to keep the laws of a country so as to avoid paying fines or going to jail.  

Love, on the other hand will make you to go above and beyond. In fact love doesn’t even measure how much is given. Love for God is actually our modus operandi in the new covenant. So rather than avoid sin, our goal is how can we love more which consequently leads us away from sin. So avoiding sin is important but the main focus is love. If we have no love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-7). A good question therefore in every thought and action is “is this love?”. At the centre of love is selflessness; finding joy and peace in giving.

Instead of searching for happiness what we should be doing is pursue loving others and you will find happiness (Mathew 16:25, Luke 6:38). But we need to grow in love and that only comes by abiding in Christ through prayers, word study and hearing, personal and public worship, praying in tongues  and practicing etc. (John 15:5). The problem is that sometimes we are deceived to think we can love without Jesus; that’s love at your convenience and when real test come, it will be uncovered for what it truly is: FAKE. 

Prayer Point:  

Let’s thank God for the word today. Let’s pray for the grace to grow in Love for God and to serve others out of the abundance of His love we have received.