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Fear! Where it comes from! How to be free.

Updated: Apr 23, 2024

Here are the verses we are focused on, especially the underlined section:1 John 4:17-19 ESV By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19We love because he first loved us.


I wanted to focus on fear, and fear having to do with punishment. First, I wanted to look at the definition of punishment: Infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense (oxford languages, Google). When I look up the word punishment in 1 John 4:18, in the Greek, the word is kolasis, and its definition is listed as correction. But its usage includes chastisement, punishment, torment, perhaps with the idea of deprivation. It appears that one of the definitions of this word is torment, which would be living in dread of upcoming judgement. Therefore, it can just be fear that there will be punishment. We know that there is punishment for sin, because our God is just, but He paid it all, so we get to turn to him and lay it at His feet, and we are free. If we look at the idea of deprivation, we know that is not receiving Gods amazing love and gifts.


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Even in the old covenant, before Jesus set us free of the consequences of sin and death, we know that child like praise, silences or stills the enemy and the avenger, as Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:16, and compares praise and strength. The avenger is the right for consequences. Now we have it even better, Jesus has paid for it all!


In my last blog, I went over these same verses at the top of the page (1 John 4:17-19), and focused on perfected in love. You can find it here https://www.janetmassey.com/post/perfected-through-christ


To sum up a piece of the last blog, being perfected in love, is when love has reached its completion in us, meaning that we have fully received God’s love, we have given it back to God, and we love people as ourselves. The love has completed its journey, its accomplished that which it set out to do.


We know that Jesus, as the word made flesh, accomplished that which he set out to do: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV.


Jesus accomplished His purpose, and we see Jesus’ purpose was to destroy the works of the devil: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil”. 1 John 3:8 ESV. We know that Jesus accomplished that. The enemy is a defeated foe. We are set free. We know Jesus mission statement is in Isaiah 61:1-2a, and in Luke: ” “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 ESV. Jesus has set us free! And we get to receive His amazing gifts, and be paraded in triumphal procession by Him (from 2 Corinthians 2:14).


Being perfected in love, is knowing that we are loved, fully receiving it to the point it overflows out of us. Love isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. God’s love for us includes Jesus taking all the punishment of sin on for us, so we are free of any punishment, or chastisement. “[Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 ESV. Jesus became the curse for our sin, for all people for all time. We are told “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 ESV


From all of this, we can see that we don’t need to fear eternal damnation. We don’t need to fear the wrath of God, and we don’t need to fear the works of the enemy, Jesus paid for it all! Where does that leave us when it comes to fear in this world of limbic system impairment, and chronic illness? What about the fear of not being able to handle the symptoms, or fear of a food that has made symptoms worse in the past, or fear when we receive a new diagnosis, or a blood test, or image or any other diagnostic test? What about fear of just doing too much and paying for it later? Is this all in the same boat, we don’t need to fear it? I would say yes. We can learn to be loving and kind to ourselves, and ask God for wisdom, which He gives generously, without reproach, and take care of our amazing bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit. We can show that overflow of God’s love to ourselves as its perfected in us, by being patient with our body and soul. Love is patient after all! On an individual basis, that patience may include still not eating certain foods, or being around certain chemicals, or doing certain activities, etc., while we grow in our confidence and trust of God, and His goodness. We can allow God’s love to be perfected in us, and be patient and kind to ourselves as that happens!


I think some of it come down to knowing that God wants us well, because Jesus was the exact representation of God, the imprint of His nature and character, and He walked around healing all who were oppressed by the enemy, and healing all who were sick. In Deuteronomy 28, we see a long list of blessings and cursings. The curses include all sorts of sickness and disease. Since Jesus became the curse so we don’t have to, we know that we wouldn’t receive these. There is consequence to original sin as well, all of creation we know has been affected by it, and is crying out. Sicknesses and diseases are one of those affects, from original sin. And Jesus paid for those affects, He paid all the punishment so we don’t have to. Let’s receive His amazing gift. Some will say that God uses sickness to teach us, but it’s the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, and teaches us all things (from John 16:13 and 1 John 2:27). We would never say that the Holy Spirit is sickness, but by saying that sickness is our teacher, we are leaning close to saying that. Can God turn anything for our good IF we love Him, and are called according to His purpose, and if we allow Him to intercede for us? – Yes (Romans 8:27-28). Does that mean He needs something that the enemy brought into this world, and needs to literally work with the enemy to teach us? No – A house divided against itself will not stand! And God will not work with the enemy. The almighty God doesn’t need the enemy’s help. The Holy Spirit can teach us all things all on His own, if we ourselves our willing to spend time reading His word, and in fellowship with Him! “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly” John 10:10 ESV. So, turn your eyes to God! That’s where our help comes from! When we turn to Jesus, and focus on Him rather than sin, or the law, the veil is removed, and we get to be transformed, completely made new from the inside out! “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV.


Therefore, wouldn’t the punishment for eating a food that made us sick in the past, fall under something that the enemy had planned for us, but that Jesus already paid for? And when it comes to diagnosis, labels, blood test, and other objective test results, that comes down to which word or report we are believing. “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” Isaiah 53:1a ESV, or in KJV: “Who hath believed our report?”. So, whose report do we believe? The worlds, and all their testing in the practice of medicine. Or Gods, who says, by His stripes we are/were healed (from Isaiah 53:5 (are) and 1 Peter 2:24 (were)). We get to stand in that triumphal procession, more than conquerors, victorious through Christ Jesus, and not stand in fear of what the world says about us, because God’s word is first, and foremost.


Maybe it’s not really that we think someone is going to come down and punish us when we get near a chemical and react, or eat a food we have reacted to, or read a diagnosis, etc., but that overall, these are effects, or punishments of original sin. So, by fearing them, we are still fearing punishment. And Jesus paid for it all. We are set free! The truth sets us free! So, receive God’s amazing gift of love. There is no condemnation in this message. If you are hearing that, tell that lie to flee in the authority given to you by Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus. Conviction points us toward Jesus and love and complete freedom, so receive that! You are loved right where you are, and you are letting God’s love complete its plan with you, and be perfected in you, and that casts out fear! So be loved!


Remember that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV. Now that is love, and it covers over all manner of sins and fears! You are loved! Deeply! And perfect love casts out fear!


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And here you can enjoy a short video on keeping our eyes stayed on Jesus, and He keeps us in perfect peace, free of fear.




Scriptures are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, ESV Text Edition: 2016. Used by persmission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. Th ESV may not be translated into any other language



 
 
 

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