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Morning Devotion for Eastertide
May 7, 2025
Reading: 1 John 4:13-21
God Is Love
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.
Meditation by Glenn Beamer
We have come to use the word “love” so ubiquitously and cavalierly that it has it has lost much definition. People love their children to be sure; they also say they love chocolate, or iPads, or politicians and rock stars they have never met. I would take a stab at cleaning this up to say that you can’t love something that can’t respond to you, which takes love of flavors and pop culture icons off the table, and sustains the possibility that one can love a golden retriever. When I think about what it means to love my sons, I focus on the commitments of time, energy, and spirit that I unhesitatingly (well usually) make to nurture them to grow into emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually healthy mature people.
In the gospels, many times people are afraid, and Jesus’ response to the fearful is never “Go out and be more afraid, protect yourself from this world with walls and spears and rocks.” Rather Jesus moves us from the hostility fear engenders to the hospitality love succors. In the reading above, John articulates “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us.”
It is not simply a semantic argument whether love precedes fear, or the loss of fear is a necessary predicate to love. Fear and love interact and as love grows fear abates and may disappear. For love to take root requires at least a momentary remission from fear when trust replaces fear. In that trusted space, love prevails and can become the perfect love John envisions. Because God first loved us, so we are called to love one another, and not to sustain fear via punishments and threats of punishments.
The self-help author Stephen Covey defined maturity as finding the balance between courage and discretion. This definition is both succinct and cogent, and it implies that courage, the opposite to fear, is an essential constituent for growth. I once discussed this concept with a Navy officer who was a fighter pilot. Admiral Zlatoper relayed that Covey’s definition was spot on, and its application and development could be seen in military officers as they rose through the ranks. Officers who excelled were not only fearless but also developed the prudence and discernment to understand when and how to be brave. They fulfilled their missions and led their sailors and troops justly, not with indiscriminate bravado but with the discretion to understand varied and challenging situations.
In light of John’s epistle, maturity can be seen as not only overcoming fears real and imagined, but as growing in God’s spirit. From this threshold, we can learn how best to bring God’s love into the world. Loving God doesn’t imply random acts of proselytizing, but rather a more thoughtful & discrete bravery in which we bring Jesus’ preaching to life in steps small and large. A mature love of Jesus reflects an understanding that revealing God’s love among 8 billion people requires that we first ease the fears of our neighbors and friends and that we establish trust as a predicate first for fearlessness and then for love.
Prayer of St Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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