No punishment

"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." -- 1 John 4:18

The verse above is an enormously important text for taking the measure of our spiritual growth.  We may ask, "How is it going with my spiritual life?" We can re-phrase this question by asking, "How often am I afraid?  How large a presence does fear play in my daily life?  Am I afraid of other people?  Am I afraid of God?  Am I afraid of the future?  Am I afraid of taking chances?  Am I afraid of messing up?  Am I afraid of what other people might think?  Am I afraid of what will happen if I really speak my mind?  Does fear drive any of my actions?"  If you're anything like me, the answer to at least some of these questions - and sometimes a lot of them! - is "Yes."  The amount of fear in our lives can be a gentle signal of how much growth we have yet to do in our spiritual lives.  (It can also be an enticement to continue on the spiritual journey, to imagine how much more abundant our lives will be as we live with less fear.)

I take it that the key goal of our lives is to move towards "perfection in love" - complete love for God, complete love for other people, complete love for the whole creation, complete love for ourselves.  One of the things that can block us from this life of greater, deeper love is fear of punishment.  This can even (and perhaps, especially) be the case when it comes to religion.  Fear can drive a lot of "religious" behavior.

People can go to worship, not to praise and adore God with their whole hearts, but because they think that might make God less likely to punish them if they've been to church.  People may be scared of God, rather than filled with love for God.  People can also do a lot of religious and service activities, not with love and generosity, but with fear.  They can engage in these activities as a way of demonstrating to the world that they are good religious people, and as such, they deserve to be rewarded, and not punished.  Their activities, then, do not flow with love and joy, but are done with a kind of tightness and rigidity.

We may say what others want us to say, even though we don't agree with them, because we don't want them to punish us by rejecting us.  We can keep our mouths shut when someone is telling a racist, sexist, or homophobic joke, because we don't want them to punish us with ostracism.  We can spend a lot of money on clothes or cars because we want to fit in with the crowd, and because we don't want the crowd to punish us by making fun of us.  Large parts of our lives can be lived in fear.

Whenever we are acting out of fear, we are not living in Love.  We are not allowing Love to guide us.

Let me say it as clearly as I can: There is no punishment.  I truly believe this.  God may judge us, but God does not punish.  Love may judge us and hold us accountable, but Love does not punish.  Now this does not mean that there are no consequences for our actions.  Along the way, we will make mistakes, even horrible mistakes.  We will commit sins and offenses.  And there will be consequences for those mistakes.  If we break a precious vase, it will still break, and we may still need to pay for it.  But we need not experience that as cosmic punishment.  If we lose our head and yell at a loved one, the relationship may still be damaged, and we may need to engage in the difficult process of saying we're sorry, making amends, and working for reconciliation.  It may be difficult, but we need not experience it as cosmic punishment.  We are still, and always, held by Love.

Love will hold us accountable, but Love will do that without punishment or cruel scorn.  So we need not be afraid of being held accountable.  We can live in Love, always.