by Elyse Fitzpatrick
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. We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:18–19

We have been liberated from the bondage of “fear of punishment.” First John 4:18 tells us there is no fear in love. The gospel logic goes like this: if you’re still afraid He’s going to punish you, you haven’t yet soaked your soul in His love.
Christian, let this sink in: He loves you—you have nothing to fear.
Your obedience to the Father no longer has to be motivated by guilt. Grace cleanses us from guilt, which will never motivate true obedience. Sure, we can be motivated by guilt to outwardly conform—because we want to be able to feel good about ourselves or approve of ourselves or have other people approve of us. But if you are obeying so you can feel free from guilt, you’re obeying for you, really, and not for God. True obedience only happens in the context of love for Christ and what He’s already done.
Grace also removes merit as a motive for obedience. So you can stop working to earn God’s favor. Now, I didn’t say, “You can stop working.” But you can definitely stop working to “measure up.” If you want to motivate me to lay down my life, please tell me what Christ has done for me, tell me that all the merit I ever needed is already mine.
Imagine Jesus when He was a little boy. Let’s say His sister takes a block of wood and bonks Him on the head. Let’s say His brothers tease Him. At every opportunity, He’s responding to them in love. And do you know what He’s doing in those moments? He’s earning your merit.
Please don’t insult the perfect work of Jesus by thinking that everything He did was merely some sort of example. His behavior was a great example; we could find no better role model than Jesus. But Jesus did not come to simply be our role model. He came to be our Savior. And to be our Savior, He became our righteousness. He became our merit. In Christ, we are set free from so much!

Thought to Remember for Today

The beautiful, liberating truth of one-way love is that it frees us from the fear of punishment, from faith-sapping guilt, and from the merry-go-round of merit. For those who have put their faith in the Son, punishment is no longer an option for God. Guilt is vanquished because our slate is wiped clean. And all the merit that ever needed to be earned has already been deposited into our account in heaven.

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.