Completely in Love.

"Perfect love casts out fear," (1 John 4:18). 

Whenever I hear this verse discussed, the conversation generally centers solely around God's love for us. Which is not inaccurate--truly, if we could receive God's love perfectly, fear would cease to be even the vaguest of memories. But I think there's something we tend to overlook.

The one who is made complete in love is not simply the one who is loved perfectly, but the one who also loves perfectly. This is what John is screaming through the repetitions in these five chapters, the word as constant as the waves of the sea (love, love, love). The one who does not love cannot claim to know God's love. The only response to a perfect love is to love perfectly in return.

If we genuinely loved the lost, no power in Hell could prevent us from sharing the truth that would bring them into the arms of ultimate joy. If we genuinely loved our brothers and sisters, no petty arguments or hurts could ever stand in the way of us crawling to them on our hands and knees to reconcile their hearts to ours. If we genuinely loved our God, we would obey even the most impossible of commands without the slightest hesitation.

When we love perfectly, the fear will leave, Beloved. Love will scoop that darkness from the hidden hollows of our hearts and fling it far, over our heads and into the sky's vast expanse. Our eyes try to follow, but it has disappeared, swallowed by infinite blue. We have never felt so light.