Todd Thacker

1 John 4:16-19

1 John 4, 16-19 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.

This is how love is made complete among us, so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In this world, we are like Jesus. 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. We love because He first loved us.

Welcome to the Bridgeway Christian Church Daily Advent Devotional for Monday, December 23rd. My name is Todd Thacker, and I serve as a class leader at Bridgeway. Watch for my upcoming class on church history.

Today, I'm going to talk about a love that restores. Fear is a fundamental human emotion that plays a significant role in shaping our behavior. Many things in life can inspire fear.

Fear of loss. Fear of pain. Fear of embarrassment.

Fear of loneliness. Fear of poverty. The list goes on.

If we let them, such fears can consume our waking hours and even prevent us from sleeping. Our enemies can play on our fears, as in Lord of the Rings, when Grima Wormtongue taunts Eowyn, playing on her fear of abandonment. Oh, but you are alone.

Who knows what you have spoken to the darkness alone in the bitter watches of the night when all your life seems to shrink, the walls of your room closing in about you, a pin to hold some wild thing in. Fear is powerful. It can negatively affect our memory, decision-making, and emotional regulation, damage our relationships, and keep us from stepping out in faith.

How, then, do we fight our fears? The answer is with love, and more specifically, with God's love. I know this might sound like a mere platitude to some of you, especially if you feel God's love to be distant. I can understand that.

If you are familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test, you know that one of its metrics is thinking or feeling, T or F. As you move closer towards thinking, the further you get from feeling. And I, my friends, am as thinking as they come. It's very easy for me to understand theological concepts and principles.

It is much more difficult for me to feel God's presence. If you are like me, it is easy, even though you firmly believe in God, believe that Jesus died for your sins, and that you are saved by grace, to feel that God is separated from you, remote, far away. And if God seems so removed from us, how can He address our fears? I get it.

But a little over a year ago, God granted me a vision that changed my life. During the worship time of a regular October service, He appeared to me, sitting on His throne. And as I fell to my knees, babbling about how sorry I was to be the sinner I am, He stood up, walked down to me, and took me in His arms, telling me that He loved me.

His love washed over me. I have never felt so known, accepted, forgiven, or valued as I did in that moment. At that brief point in time, I truly understood what it meant that God loved me.

It meant that He knew who I was. All the bad parts about me that I hope no one will ever know, He knew. And He loved me.

He didn't just love me despite all my failings and flaws. He loved me because of them, because of who I was, because I was His special child. All fear, anxiety, and doubt left me in that moment, driven out by the overwhelming expanse of His love for me.

I sobbed. Tears streamed freely down my cheeks as the realization of His love fully hit me. After it was over, and I said days through one of Pastor Lance's sermons, I didn't retain much of it.

Sorry, Pastor Lance. I had to sit in my car for 15 minutes before I felt it was safe for me to drive home. It was that powerful of an experience.

I had never had an encounter with God like that before and have not had one since. But through that vision, God allowed me to fully understand, allowed this thinking man to feel His love. And that, my brothers and sisters of Bridgeway Church, is what I want to try and share with you today.

Because God's overwhelming love isn't just for me. It's for you as well. God knows who you are.

He knows your deep, dark secrets to which no one else in this world has access. And He still loves you. He has the best plans for you.

And He's not going to let you go. How can we fear if we truly know that the God of the universe loves us? As Paul says in 2 Timothy 1-7, God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. And that is what I pray for each and every one of you, brothers and sisters, that you may fully comprehend God's love in a way that drives out your fear.

Let's pray. Father God, we know you love us. Please help us to truly understand the enormity of your love and allow it to scour the fear from our hearts.

We love you, Father, because you first loved us. Thank you so much for your love. In Jesus' holy name, amen.