love and fear

I am teaching right now through a Sunday Series called "Living Without Fear". There is a verse of Scripture that never fails to amaze me. (1 John 1:18) says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

It's hard to wrap my mind around how significant this really is. The Bible says that

the opposite of love is fear and
the opposite of fear is love

In other words, love and fear can't operate at the same time in your life. Love and fear can’t be in the same room. Here’s what happens: when love comes in the front door of your life, fear goes out the back door. Love chases fear away.

And no matter what anybody tries to tell you, the truth is this: You ARE loved! God has loved you ever second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month, of every year. There has never been a time that God has not loved you. And his PERFECT love can drive away our fears.