{"id":22493,"date":"2024-10-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/daily-devotion-for-monday-7th-october-2024"},"modified":"2024-10-07T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T05:00:00","slug":"daily-devotion-for-monday-7th-october-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/daily-devotion-for-monday-7th-october-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Devotion for Monday 7th October 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Monday 7 October 2024&nbsp;<br \/>Reflections on Difficult Times 1 &#8211; Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div readability=\"49\">\n<p><strong><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">I John 4: 16b &#8211; 21<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world.&nbsp; There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, \u2018I love God\u2019, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">I grew up being afraid of the Soviet Union\u2019s nuclear arsenal.&nbsp; As I got older I became afraid too of the arsenal held by the West.&nbsp; Now I\u2019m tempted to remember the good old days when I knew who to be afraid of!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">There\u2019s much to fear in our contemporary world;&nbsp;<\/span><br \/>&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\" dir=\"ltr\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">social upheaval following deindustrialization and a move into new areas of work which are less secure,&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\" dir=\"ltr\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">the subsequent changes from pensions guaranteed by one\u2019s employer to those where the employee takes the risk,&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\" dir=\"ltr\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">the dream of being able to own one\u2019s own home seems a myth to many younger people&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\" dir=\"ltr\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">the lack of investment in our public infrastructure means we\u2019re susceptible when we\u2019re told to blame those who use it more.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Rapid social change has led to some feeling insecure whilst, at the same time, the institutions we used to trust are now found wanting.&nbsp; As a (white) child I was told always to trust the police; black children are often told how to behave with the police in ways which indicate a profound, and understandable, lack of trust. We can be fearful when we don\u2019t feel in control of our lives or destinies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Here\u2019s a spoiler alert: as Christians we decided that God is in charge of our lives and destinies.&nbsp; We took the fateful decision, when we came to faith, to cede control to God, to recognise God\u2019s sovereignty which overshadows our own.&nbsp; Methodists recognise this every year in their Covenant service \u201cI am no longer my own but yours.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">The writer of today\u2019s passage understood this all too well.&nbsp; Working in a hostile culture where death was a real danger for Christians fear could be all-consuming.&nbsp; Instead the writer reminds us that God\u2019s love drives out all fear.&nbsp; As we are tempted to be fearful of the world around us and its changes, it\u2019s good to be reminded of our decision to bow to God\u2019s sovereignty and accept that perfect love which calms our fears.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Help us when we are afraid, O God,<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">to remember Your love.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Help us when we try to take control of our lives, O God,<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">that we\u2019ve given that control to You.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Help us to trust in Your love,<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">which drives out all fear.<\/span><br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-0783008f-7fff-1cd5-8eb7-460756c7395a\">Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday 7 October 2024&nbsp;Reflections on Difficult Times 1 &#8211; Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear&nbsp; I John 4: 16b &#8211; 21 God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of &hellip; <\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/daily-devotion-for-monday-7th-october-2024\/\" class=\"button more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Daily Devotion for Monday 7th October 2024&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}