Remember, John wrote to a group of true believers rocked by the departure of a group from their church. That other group spoke critically of them and celebrated their own supposedly superior spirituality. John wrote to reassure the faithful believers that they were not missing out on God’s great work in the world. Their reassurance was that God had given them his Holy Spirit (v 13), which was evident because they loved one another (v 16).

As we saw yesterday, Christian love is not something we can work up in ourselves. It is a response to God first loving us (v 19). And genuine love for God and one another is such a miracle in this fallen world that it can give us a confidence that is beyond this world (v 17). Many relationships are tainted by fear, but there is an alternative (v 18). The miracle of Christian love is that it gives us the confidence to stand before God.

Why? Because this love is not about our efforts. It is the love of God at work in us. As the Spirit enables you to worship Christ, fellowship with God is the real deal (v 16).

Lord, whenever I am afraid, please help me to choose to trust in your love more than my fear. In Jesus’ name.

I have known the tormenting power of fear. Perhaps you have too. Spending weeks in Intensive Care Units, I have encountered fear that became like liquid, drip-feeding its paralysing power into my mind as potently as medication was being pumped into my veins. At my lowest ebb I found relief in the sense of the presence of Jesus. In a near-death encounter, I said of the experience, ‘It seemed as if someone had just turned off the switch marked “evil” and turned on the one labelled “love”. I felt calm and comforted in a way that made me think I was being hugged.’¹ Perfect love does indeed drive out fear. Like a good shepherd driving away an attacking wolf, Jesus guards his people with his self-sacrificing love.

‘Am I being punished for something?’ is a question I asked myself often during two decades of chronic, serious illness. Fear and self-questioning often go together, but perfect love and fear cannot cohabit. There is a place in our discipleship for prayerful self-searching,² perhaps particularly at communion services, but such introspection should always lead us to the cross, the ultimate place for punishment, with its forgiveness, life and healing for us. We love because God first loved us (v 19). He took the initiative to reach out and save us while we were still sinners, not just after we had repented.³ So, for us to be unwilling to love our brothers and sisters is unthinkable. John sets the bar as high as it can go with his declaration that God is love (v 16) and he recalls the words of Jesus, ‘My command is this: love each other as I have loved you’.⁴ Anything less than that would be a lie.

Shepherds played a big role that first Christmas. Consider the love of the good shepherd.⁵ Let go of your fears and picture him with arms outstretched to hug you.

¹ Eric Gaudion, Through the Storms, Instant Apostle, 2020, p28  ² Ps 139:23,24  ³ Rom 5:8  ⁴ John 15:12  ⁵ John 10:7–11