1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to 2 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: have you listening with us. Today's topic is a love 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: that is stronger than fear. We will return with the 4 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:40,639 Speaker 1: devotion after a brief message from our sponsors. Held by 5 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: a Love stronger than Fear, Written and read by Sarah Fraser. 6 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: Many of us carry a fear we rarely name, the 7 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: fear that love can leave. The only love we see 8 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: is often a love that is distant, disappointing for me. 9 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: Sometimes love feels fragile. That's because the love we often 10 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: experience is a conditional love. It is a love that 11 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: depends on how we act, perform, or even our moods. 12 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: How many relationships have been broken and lost because love 13 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: was withdrawn, withheld, or just abandoned. Human relationships are indeed fragile, weak, 14 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: and easily broken. Even if we experience a love that lasts, 15 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: we still distrust a true kind of love we see 16 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: in the Bible. Friend, God's love is not fragile. The 17 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: apostle John gives us a picture of God's love here, 18 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: he says, and so we know and rely on the 19 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives 20 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: in love lives in God and God in them. This 21 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: is how love is made complete among us, so that 22 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In 23 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear 24 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear 25 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: has to do with punishment. The one who fears is 26 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: not made perfect in love. One John four sixteen through eighteen, 27 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: the Book of First John, was a letter written to 28 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: Christians in the first century. The New Church was experiencing 29 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: intense persecution and suffering. When we face hardships, we question 30 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: God's love for us. John spends so much time through 31 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: this letter explaining God's love to them so they would 32 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: rest in a love that was strong, eternal, and not 33 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: rooted in fear. John uses the word no here we 34 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: do not guess or in God's love we can know it. 35 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: We also rely on it. This word means to rest 36 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: our entire weight on We can sit down, rest and 37 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: be confident in this type of love. Human love can waver, disappear, 38 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: or get lost. Fear grips our hearts. When we think 39 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: about the loves that have left, whether by death or choice, 40 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: human love will always be vulnerable. Only God loves us fully, 41 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: completely and without condition. God's love is something we are 42 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: invited here. In John's letter to depend Upon, John also 43 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: says that God is love. That means that God is 44 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: more than just loving, but his very nature is one 45 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: of love. What makes God who he is has to 46 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: include love. There's a permanence here. His love cannot leave 47 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: because it is woven into the fabric of who he is. 48 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: God would not be God unless he loved us. That 49 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: means that this love is never revoked, nor is it 50 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: ever threatened by our weakness, doubt or fear. Fear grows 51 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: when we lose sight of God's love for us. If 52 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: we continually see our inadequacies as a measure of God's 53 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: love for us, we will always fear. We will always 54 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: be afraid that we will lose God's love. But when 55 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: we begin to see how secure God's love for us is, 56 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: that's when fear begins to shrink. Fear is tied to 57 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: punishment and loss. In one John four seventeen through eighteen, 58 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: he makes it clear that love has made us complete. 59 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: This type of love leads to confidence, not anxiety. Fear whispers, 60 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: what if I lose love? God's love answers you are. 61 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: This is the power of God's love over fear. We 62 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: are held by a love that is stronger than fear. 63 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: I'll admit fear feels very strong in my life. It 64 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: seems to start small, but then grow if I allow 65 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: the worries and doubts to take over my mind. If 66 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: I ever encounter a love that is uncertain, or when 67 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: I face the sting of rejection by someone else, I 68 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,239 Speaker 1: have to guard against fear. Fear likes to settle into 69 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: our hearts. If we allow that to happen, we lose 70 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: sight of God's love and begin to guard ourselves away. 71 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: John reminds us that as Christians, we are shaped by 72 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: a love that is beyond all fear. As we learn 73 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: to rest in the love God offers us, we can 74 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: feel our fears give way to faith. We can find 75 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: ourselves confident, grounded, and a love that is steady, secure, 76 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: and strong enough to hold us. Intersecting of faith and life, 77 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: Our experiences with people often shape how we expect love 78 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: to behave. If love has been inconsistent or even withheld, 79 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: fear can quickly influence the way we relate to God 80 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: as well. But God's love is something we can rely on. 81 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: How has your past or present relationships shaped the way 82 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: you experience or expect love to behave In what area 83 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: of your life might God be inviting you to replace 84 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: fear driven striving with deeper reliance on His love. Additional 85 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:47,600 Speaker 1: reading Psalm twenty seven to one, Isaiah fifty four to ten, 86 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: John fourteen twenty seven, Romans eight fifteen. The Crosswalk Devotional 87 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If 88 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,599 Speaker 1: you liked what you heard today, please take a second 89 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: to rate and review this podcast in your favorite podcast 90 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: app so that more listeners like you can find the show. 91 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: For more faith filled inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio 92 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: dot com.