scripture and prayer reflection
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Lyrics
God and Father, great and holy
Fearing not, we come to Thee
Fearing not, though weak lowly
For Your love has set us free
And by the blue sky bending over
By the green earth's flowery home
Teach us Lord the angel chorus
You are love and love alone
You are love and love alone
Though the worlds in flame should perish
Sun and stars in ruin fall
Trust in Thee our hearts should cherish
Oh Lord be our all in all
With Your name the heavens praising
Angels hymn no sweeter tone
Than the songs our hearts are raising
You are love and love alone
You are love and love alone
How perfectly our hearts
Are made for love
You are love and love alone
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
1 John 4:16-18a
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 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. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
Reflection
When confronted by angelic beings, people in the Bible always respond first with fear. It is a natural response, given that they are meeting an other-worldly messenger of a powerful and holy God. The glory of God seen firsthand is terrifying in its magnitude and strength. But fear is almost always the first thing that the angel addresses in each encounter — “Do not fear”. Fear is dispelled by God’s loving engagement with His creation.
In his video series, Basics, Francis Chan argues that because we have already faced the more fearsome thing possible and learned that we don’t need to be afraid, we don’t need to fear anything else. We have encountered the living God and rather than being annihilated by His holiness, we are called to draw near in Christ. Rather than being destroyed, we are loved. If we have nothing to fear from Him, we have nothing to fear from anything. He holds everything in the palm of His hand, fully in control of anything and everything that occurs in our lives.
But just because God is in control and loves us doesn’t mean — as some like to preach — that everything in life will be great according to our standards simply because we love God. We still encounter pain and loss. Cancer, divorce, financial trouble, infertility, depression, etc. etc. — these things aren’t gone just because we follow Christ. But we have the promise that because He loves us, He is actively using even the worst moments of our lives to shape us and others more fully into who He created us to be, redeeming evil and pain for our good (Rom 8:28). This too is an expression of His love for us.
Take some time to reflect on your own life. What makes it difficult to receive God’s love at times? Where does fear begin to creep in? Put another way, where do you find yourself holding back the uglier parts of yourself from God out of shame or guilt? Invite Him into those places, knowing that His love is unshaken. Talk with Him about what comes up.