Every now and then Scripture distills the entire gospel into a single, breathtaking sweep. 1 John 4 is one of those places. John writes with pastoral urgency—warning, comforting, instructing—all while calling us back to the center of our faith: Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the One who loves us perfectly and drives out fear.
John begins by reminding us that not every voice we hear is trustworthy. “Do not believe every spirit.” In a world filled with opinions, platforms, influencers, and spiritual counterfeits, the call is simple: test everything by whether it leads you deeper into Christ. Abiding in Him is the antidote to confusion.
Then John pulls us straight to the heart of the gospel: God sent His Son. Love isn’t abstract. It took on skin and bone. The cross and the incarnation anchor every truth claim we hold.
And from that truth flows the line that shakes off centuries of anxious religion:
“Perfect love casts out fear.”
Fear is what remains when we forget whose we are. Abiding in Christ replaces fear with confidence—not confidence in ourselves, but in the God who loves us completely.
John ends with a practical charge: love the people in front of you. Our theology is revealed not by what we claim to believe, but by the love we give away.
We live in the “in-between”—between Christ’s first coming and His return. But we don’t live aimlessly. We live as those who are loved, filled with the Spirit, and sent as ambassadors of truth and grace.
So today, ask God to help you discern, abide, and love.
Ask the Spirit to guide every step.
Let His perfect love drive out fear.
And let your life tell the world that Jesus is still the answer.
And that’s the mid-week memo.
