Jesus' words, "By this shall all men J know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35), serve to remind us that love is the Master's criterion for discipleship. In his first Epistle to the churches, the beloved disciple John said these things of import about love (I John 4:12-18): "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.... God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.... He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
That it is possible for one's love for God and man to exempt one from fear has been accepted as a Christian teaching for centuries. In spite of this, however, it has often seemed that the deeper the love of an individual for a dear one or for a vital cause, the greater his fear for the safety and success of the object of his love. If that is the case, one needs to understand more clearly the universal, eternal nature of love as a quality of God, which man reflects.
Christian Science alone can eliminate the anomaly of the devout but terrified Christian, for this Science reinstates the original Christian point of view, namely a perfect and wholly lovable God and a perfect and wholly safe man.
