“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”
1 John 4:17 (NLT)
Verses 7 through 21 in this chapter reveal how central love is to the Christian life. John reminds us that love comes from God—not from our effort or personality. When we truly know God and have been fathered by Him, His love will overflow from our lives. It’s not possible to walk closely with the God who is love and not express that love to others.
God demonstrated the depth of His love by sending Jesus to give us eternal life and to be the sacrifice that permanently removed our sin. That’s real love—not our weak attempts to love Him back, but His complete and undeserved love for us. And if God has loved us so completely, how can we withhold even a fraction of that love from others?
Our ability to love is one of the clearest signs that God is living in us. His Spirit confirms this relationship, and as we grow in His love, we become more like Him. That’s why John says we can have confidence on the day of judgment—because we’ve been walking in love, following in the footsteps of Jesus. Perfect love doesn’t just comfort us—it pushes out fear.
When fear lingers in our hearts—especially fear of punishment—it often means we haven’t fully received God’s love. And when we hate others, especially fellow believers, it shows we’re not living in His love at all. If we want to pour out love like Jesus did, we need to be fathered by God first. Only then can we love others with hearts free from fear and hate.