Good morning family! Thank God for revelation! When you ask God to open your eyes to truly “see,” He will never fail you. Having said that, on to this post! To begin let’s take a look at 3 different translations of 1 scripture (1 John 4:18) that I believe the Lord has shown me pertaining to this subject.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (King James)
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear is by suspicion, but he who fears is not grown up in love. (Aramaic Version)
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. (New Living Translation)
Wheww…ok. Where do I begin with this one. Part of my rationale for creating this blog was to confess and be vulnerable in hopes of helping other people with similar issues through my journey with Christ. One of my main goals for the year was to learn to love in a healthy way. Keyword, HEALTHY. Some of you may be reading this and are clueless and for others this resonates to your core. As I stated earlier in this post, God opened my eyes to truth this morning. Just when I thought I was back on the track to healthy loving, He showed me I was entering an unhealthy cycle once again. He brought me to the scripture above and even showed me 3 different translations in case I didn’t understand it the first time.
Due to experiences in my past, I’ve learned to love in fear. No, I am not making my past an excuse for my behavior, that’s just what the combination of my history and learned behavior have resulted in. I love to the extremes because of fear of it being taken away. The worst part about this was that I was ignorant that I was loving in this manner. What a dangerous place to be! Without drawing this post out to0 long, the lesson learned is loving in fear, loving to hard, loving others without giving others room to breathe all stem from fear and result in terrible consequences.
Ironically, in order to love others in a healthy way, we have to let go and trust God. Healthy love is not squeezing a teddy bear to death and keeping it in your closet to fulfill your needs when you are ready to receive love. Healthy love is not viewing life simply through the lens of your eyes with the pretense of, “I see both sides of the story.” Healthy love is edification. It’s letting go and trusting God enough to see the intricacies of everyone’s heart condition.
When I read the scripture above, I thought about how my mother and grandmother liberated me in love. Had they kept me sheltered and not given me an opportunity to explore my creativity, my very being, the world, and the realm of possibility, I would not be the person that I am today. Truly, love liberates. It allows us to spread our wings and fly into a manifestation of creation. Likewise, I must give this gift of healthy love to others just as Jesus so eloquently models it daily for me.
In earthly speech, I’d like to present the wisdom of Maya Angelou on this very subject. A while back, I was watching Oprah’s show, Master Class and was taken away by her choice of words. It’s only fitting that I share these words with you. Enjoy!
“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold—that’s ego. Love liberates. It doesn’t bind. Love says, ‘I love you. I love you if you’re in China. I love you if you’re across town. I love you if you’re in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I’d like to have your arms around me. I’d like to hear your voice in my ear. But that’s not possible now, so I love you. Go.’” — Dr. Maya Angelou
En paz,
His Daughter
P.S. I pray I hit on the core of this message. This is such a profound concept and hence slightly difficult to communicate in words. *Happy Holidays!!