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When people "walk in love," they seek ways to mutually respect, affirm, and honor each other, and they are careful not to wound the relationship through selfishness or strife. The fear of losing love evokes a healthy zeal to protect it from loss... The same may be said of God's relationship with us. The gospel represents God's passion for us, the call of his heart, his desire to elevate us to the role of the beloved, and we respond by accepting Him as the Lover of our souls, the ultimate concern of our life. Sin threatens to seduce us away from God's love, to interfere with our relationship, which evokes God's "jealousy" to protect love from loss. It is written that "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18), but perfect love (τελεία ἀγάπη) must be "perfect," that is, reciprocal, complete, consummated, and alive with passion. In Hebrew, perfect love is "shalem" - that is, whole, healed, and unified (אַהֲבָה שְׁלֵמָה). Perfect love is both given and received... It is not "perfect love" to objectively accept that God loves you in Jesus. No, you must receive this as an inward passion, you must live within it, must embrace it, take possession of it, and let it fill your heart to abundance. This love, this "perfect love," then will cast away your fear of being unwanted, rejected, and abandoned. But to know this love, you have to open your heart and accept it as your own, the essential reality of who you are:
אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְעָלַי תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ
a·nee · lei·doh·dee · vei·ah·lai · te·shoo·kah·toh
"I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me"
(Song 7:10)
We are told to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου) since the love of God demands no less than our all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
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