1 John 4:18 Context
The book of 1 John was written to encourage and assure the local church after some in the church began to drift away from God’s truth.
These leaders became false teachers who tried to convert others to their way of thinking. John wrote these three letters to speak the truth about who Jesus was and why he came.
1 John 4:18 Meaning
In Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy, he talks about love being the power that runs the universe. Good things are motivated and caused by love.
Bad things are some type of perversion of love. Love is the center of all things, and nothing happens without it.
The focus of the passage that today’s verse comes from is also love. We are told to love one another because love comes from God. Indeed, God is love.
These three words— “God is love”—may be among the most powerful words ever uttered. If we truly understand what love is, understanding these words will change us.
So how are we supposed to define love? The passage tells us that it’s based on his sacrificing his Son for us. Love is sacrifice. Love is a willingness to suffer for another.
That sort of love—that sacrificial kind that is willing to suffer for the beloved—has no room for fear. If God loved us enough to send his Son, what is there to be afraid of? Surely not God! He suffered for us.
God is above all, and nothing is more powerful than he. So that leaves us with no options left. Fear and love just don’t mix.
But the passage doesn’t leave us there—it calls us to higher things. If this is how God loves us, we must love others similarly. That is a high calling indeed.
1 John 4:18 Application
When you think of love, do you think of sacrifice? Thank God for his sacrifice on your behalf.
Then meditate on how the most powerful being in the universe was willing to suffer for you.
Pray that God helps you catch a glimpse of this love and that it will wipe away your fear.
“It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”