Today's reading: 1 John 5:1-21

'I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life... And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.' - 1 John 5:13,20 NLT

The Apostle John didn't write in code when it came to his intentions of this 5-chapter letter. He, over and over, wrote to assure his audience of two main truths:

1) We can know for certain that we are saved.

When I say "saved," I mean that we can be assured that we are among those whom God calls His children, both right now and when we step into eternity. Heaven awaits those who "have the Son." (see verse 12) This is manifested by our obedience to God and our love for those around us.

2) Jesus is, in fact, God.

Our Savior proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was who He said he was. In verse 8, John points to three that testified of this:

• The Spirit >> Jesus' birth and life (see Luke 1:35, 2:52)

• The Water >> Jesus' baptism (see Matthew 3:13-16)

• The Blood >> Jesus' death on the cross (see Matthew 26:28, Ephesians 1:7)

The amazing thing? Our original testifiers aren't here anymore. They've received their reward in heaven. Yet these three continue to testify, to this day, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Today's reading: 1 John 4:1-21

'There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.' - 1 John 4:18 ESV

The most often quoted command in the Bible is, "Do not be afraid." Yet, we see time and time again that we are to fear the Lord. Both the Old Testament and New Testament writers are clear that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (see Proverbs 1:7, Colossians 3:22).

So, is John stepping into a contradiction on the rest of Scripture? I believe he's not.

The context of 1 John 4 is that because of God's great love for us, mainly Jesus' sacrifice, we longer have to fear punishment from God. The proof of us understanding this, of course, is reflected in how we love those around us. We are not anticipating divine wrath from God because we are trusting in Jesus.

At the same time, we do fear the Lord. Fear, in this sense, has to do with recognition and worship. We bow down. We lift our hands. We tremble at the magnitude of His word, it being the authority over us. We know what He is capable of, and we are thankful for His mercy.

Fear as worship to God. Fear not His punishment because of Jesus' blood, spilled for you.