1 John 3 & 4

***1 John 3***

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God"

I think we take for granted that God is a loving, almighty parent and we are God's children, children that God loves and loves and loves.

Of course we are God's children, God created us. But creating something doesn't mean you have to love it.

Think of the things we create. We make dinners, we build houses, we write blogs, we make and create all kinds of things, but it doesn't mean that we have to love them. They are not our flesh and blood.

We are not God's flesh and blood, we were created in the image of God, we are not created from God. It would be the equivalent to making a statue in our image, then having that statue walk and talk.

Jesus is God's one and only begotten child. Jesus was God's flesh and blood.

But God chose us to be sons and daughters, to be his family, to be his children. And he did so not because he had to, but because he wanted to. He was compelled to because of his love for us. And there is no greater sign of that love than the death of his only begotten son, his flesh and blood nailed to a cross for us.

That's the sacrifice God made for his family.

***1 John 4***

Last night a group of members from Abiding Grace met for amazing burgers and bible study.

We were studying Acts chapter 10 and the story of the Centurion Cornelius. It says that he was a Godfearing man... and that was a good thing.

Then our text today says that perfect love drives out fear. So should we fear God or not?

And the answer is... no we shouldn't... but yes we should.

If God is perfect love then there is no reason to fear to God. God is the beginning of, and end of all life. So when life is ending we should not fear, because that is where will be with God. Instead we should respect God's omnipotence and be grateful for God's love. (Which may be what the word Godfearer means)

BUT

We humans aren't really good with relationships. We have never experienced perfect love in our lifetime. People that we are closest to have hurt us by things they have said or haven't said, things they have done or haven't done... no one is perfect. (Although my wife is very, very close!)

How can we fully trust something we have never experienced? We do so on faith. Faith by definition comes with a certain amount of doubt, and that doubt is where fear comes in.

Fear is normal, but it should not rule our lives... love should. And since God is love, in the end, God should.

It's all semantics anyway.