1 Corinthians 13:4-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is God’s perfect love.

For the longest time I compared my ability to love against this standard. I failed and felt ashamed that I could not love perfectly. When Jesus told us to love one another He used the word agapao rather than agape. This is what Vine’s Expository Encyclopedia says about the verb form of agapao.

“Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any

excellency in its objects. It was an exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.”

Note the careful wording there; “it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects”. While Christ dwells in my heart by faith, nothing I do releases that love. “Made without assignable cause” tells me that God’s divine will exercises His agape love thru His agapao, as a noun, His beloved. No failure on my part can hinder the will of God.

Fear of failure is a tool of the enemy of the Cross. Satan feeds on fear within Christians. Satan’s only aim here is to keep us on tilt. Being kept off balance we are more likely to stumble. If we should fall Satan is right there to glare down on us, “See, you are not good enough.”

Fear of failure produces selfish interest.