This week, I have studied 1 1:13-21 to
prepare for my Sunday School class. I came to verse 17, " And if you address as Father the
One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct
yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence." I asked
God to show me really what it means to fear God with a healthy, appropriate
fear.
Here are my
thoughts.
For the unbeliever, the fear of God is the fear of judgment
and eternal death,
Matt
10:28-29
28
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but
ratherfear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Those who
are children of God do not have to fear God in the same way.
For the
believer, the fear is something much different.
A Biblical
fear of God for the believer, includes understanding how much God hates sin and
fearing His judgment on sin—even in the life of a believer:
Heb
12:5-11
5 and you
have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
"MY
SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT
WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
6 FOR
THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE
SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
7 It is
for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son
is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without
discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate
children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us,
and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of
spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to
them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to
those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of
righteousness.
As
children, the fear of discipline kept us from doing bad or harmful things, even
though their discipline was not perfect or always done correctly. God
disciplines us in love, for our good, so that we will be holy.
We should
fear His discipline and seek to obey Him.
Our
overwhelming feeling about God should not be fear. God says that the primary
thing He wants is our love.
Our fear
of God is a fear of the discipline He will bring to correct us, not fear that
He will harm us or reject us.
God has
promised that He will never leave us. He has promised that nothing can separate
us from His love. We are to be confident that He loves us, that He accepts us
and will never abandon us. That confidence should motivate us to follow Him and
obey Him. But, if we get off track, we can be sure of His discipline to get us
back.
During my study, I ran
across a quote that I really enjoyed, from Mike Yaconelli
"I would
like to suggest that the Church become a place of terror again; a place where
God continually has to tell us, "Fear not"; a place where our
relationship with God is not a simple belief or a doctrine or theology, it is
God's burning presence in our lives. I am suggesting that the tame God of
relevance be replaced by the God whose very presence shatters our egos into
dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person
within. The Church needs to become a gloriously dangerous place where nothing
is safe in God's presence except us. Nothing--including our plans, our agendas,
our priorities, our politics, our money, our security, our comfort, our
possessions, our needs.
That really sums up
what I think is an accurate view of the fear of God that is right for a
Christian. "Nothing is safe in God's presence EXCEPT US."
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