1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has punishment, and he who fears has not been perfected in love. (Recovery Version Bible)
We must give no ground to suspicion and fear. We love our brothers; we do not fear them. First John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” We are not in a political circle, where even the leaders are suspicious of one another. We should never be suspicious of one another, and we should not try to spy on one another. If certain brothers say something about us, let them do it. We should not try to find out what they are saying. We should not go to a brother and say, “Please tell me what they were talking about.” If we do this, we are acting as politicians, not brothers. Rather, we should leave this matter to the sovereign hand of the Lord. We can tell Him, “Lord, if it is Your will that I should know, and if it is for Your glory and the good of the church life, You will let me know through some channel.” There is no need for us to ask what someone said. Because we have no suspicion of the brothers, we have no fear of them either. Therefore, there is no need to spy.
…It is always a temptation to know others’ attitude toward us, how they consider us, and what they have said about us. In order to realize the church life, we must reject this temptation. We must have no suspicion. We believe in the Lord and consider that all the brothers are good. Therefore, there is no need to know too much. Regardless of how others consider us and talk about us, we are in the hand of the Lord. If we practice in this way, the door will be closed to the enemy. (Witness Lee, The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, ch. 13)
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