Perfect love casts out all fear...

//there is no fear in love//
//i'm no longer a slave to fear/i am a child of God//
//no fear can hinder now the love that made a way//
//my fears are drowned in perfect love//
//just throw off your fear and come running to Me/I loved you before you knew what was love//
//i will not be afraid/for my hope is in His name//
//perfect love casts out all fear//

these are the lyrics that have been permeating my psyche over the course of the past weeks.
i've been working through some fear and anxiety in a few different areas of life and put together a playlist of songs intended to inspire me to courage and bravery and confidence in Christ. and it has to some extent. but it's also caused me to meditate on this idea of fear and love with thoughts such as...

is love the opposite of fear? technically, the opposite of something is the complete lack of that something, so wouldn't it make more sense for the opposite of fear to be courage or bravery or confidence? so that technically someone who is without fear is fearless?
and then isn't hate the opposite of love? so that someone without love is loveless or hateful?
where is the connection? how do these two words really tie together??

what about trust?
if i say i love God, then i have faith in Him and strive to obey Him, i trust His will for me and therefore if i am trusting i have no reason to be afraid. and isn't worry really a reflection of a lack of faith? a lack of trust?
so if fear = lack of trust and love = trust, then that would make sense that fear and love are indeed opposites.

am i overthinking this???

so i went to the source. to the Word.

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we
might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins...This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:9-10, 13-18 (NIV)

here's that last part in the Message paraphrase:

"God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love."

here's my takeaway:

God is love. by definition.
my identity as a child of God and Christ-follower is a life of love. by definition.
fear is simply a life lacking love, a life lacking God. and God-love trumps fear because greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)

and how do I live into this truth?
"He has given us of his Spirit..."
The literal presence of God (love) colliding with my sinful self (fear), CONQUERING it, and creating that new identity centered in Him.

it's like our sermon a couple weeks ago on righteousness - imputed righteousness - we are made perfect through Christ's sacrifice (that positional identity), BUT we are still working out that righteousness as we follow Jesus.

So here's my application:
In the days and weeks and months to come, as I encounter fear and anxiety (as I most certainly will), I will reflect on these truths: that my identity as a child of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in me are the love that is greater than the fear my human flesh is feeling. having that foundation will allow me to then lean into the characteristics of God as my defender and conqueror and allow me to truly understand what it means to be brave, confident and courageous!