Video: Perfect love casts out fear like Jesus expelled demons

A lot of people hide from each other... in friendships, at the office, in marriage... we tend to "keep something back," lest we be revealed for... well... something less that what we project that we are...

Maybe you don't do it, but I bet you know someone who does...

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Over the past three years one of my favorite verses has become 1 John 4:19-- "Perfect love drives out fear.”.

Now, that word perfect doesn't mean "without flaw," it means, "living up to its full potential," that is, "over-exerting and overflowing to do the best that it can." In other words, it's mature.

👉 Not flaky.

👉 Not subject to the whims of our cancel culture.

👉 Not subject to mis-definition, blame-shifting, or pop-psych "hot words.”

It's solid. Stable. Secure. You can trust it and be confident in it.

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John tells us that mature love— the love that reaches its full potential— dominates fear. It doesn’t incite fear or insecurity; it eliminates it. As such, real love makes people feel safe.

I reviewed several translations to see how they communicate the term “casts out.” Here are four ways translators describe what perfect love does.

❌ Drives out fear (NIV).

❌ Expels all fear (NLT).

❌ Casts out fear (ESV).

❌ Banishes fear (ISV).

In other words, this kind of love is strong.

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Here’s how intensely it creates security: the same word used of “casts out” fear is the same verbiage used throughout the New Testament to describe how Jesus treated demons. When He bumped into them, they had no choice but to leave. He expelled them. He forced them to go. He eliminated them.

It’s a great analogy. Mature love, the God kind of love, does the exact same thing to condemnation, fear, and shame.

Perfect love drives fear away with this same passion. Fear has no choice but to leave when people are loved in this way.

⭐️ They don't need to self-protect.

⭐️ They don't need to feel ashamed...

⭐️ They don't need to avoid or hide.

⭐️They know they are accepted.

In other words, there’s no need to hide what we already see.