The Fear Of God

 

Fear is not in love, but perfect love is casting out fear, for fear has chastening.  Now he who is fearing is not perfected in love. 

1 John 4: 18, Concordant New Testament 

How much do you fear the Lord?  How much do you fear the fire and brimstones of His anger?  Well, in conversation with a good friend and coworker this week, it became clear to me that he certainly serves the Lord out of fear in some ways.  He fears of losing his salvation if his sins are too great.  I get it.  I spent a good deal of time within churches who taught that God indeed could be angered to the point of taking it out upon the children He loves.  This was part of the mainstream church theology which I grew up in.  So, in a way, I can emphasize with my friend in how he is feeling.  But do these fears of ours hold any merit?  Is God a Lord who is short tempered depending upon which sins we commit?  Is the anger of the Lord so on edge that He may one day deprive us of our salvation if we don't fly right?  Some who live in the fear of the Lord might tend to believe in this way of thinking.  I do not.  If we were to place these ideas we have about God upon our earthly parents, we would see Him as engaging in child abuse.  Is this the loving God we know?  The larger question is, does God desire for us to live in fear of Him?  For the answer to this I turn to one of my favorite passages in the book of John.  A passage which clearly shows us the true nature of the Lord we serve.  We know from the apostle John that God...is love {1 John 4:8}.  He loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us {John 3:16}.  He loved us enough to create us in His ow image {Genesis 1:27}.  This is the love of God personified.  Yet, far too many Christians fight the daily battle between what the church teaches and the love we find in the Lord.  I've been there.  The fear that I would be cast into a lake of fire if God became angry with my mistakes.  The fear that even after showing His love and mercy at the cross that He would seemingly cast me aside.  This was my fear of the Lord.  

For God gives us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control. 

1 Timothy 1: 7, Concordant New Testament 

Do you imagine a God who lords over us with intimidation?  To me this is not love at all.  Are we compelled to love God simply because we are afraid of what He may do to us?  Or do we love Him because He loved us first {1 John 4:9}?  This love which the Father has for us has always been.  This love which the Father has displayed for us knows no end.  There is nothing which we might ever do which will do away with the love which He has for His children.  His love endures all {1 Corinthians 13:7}.  The notion that Gods love is conditional is a negative lie espoused by the church.  It simply is not true.  So we fast, tithe and suffer through a life of fear of what God might do to us if we stray from His ways.  Instead of being thankful for His love and mercy upon us, we live in fear of Him.  I suggest that this has never been the way in which the Lord wants us to live.  How is it that we can be one with Christ and the Father if we fear Him?  Has God sent His Son to cleanse us simply to lord over us with fear?  Or, out of His love for us has He released us from the chains of slavery to sin which once bound us?  I would suggest that we have never served a God of anger but a God of endearing love who desires His children return to Him.  

Perceive what manner of love which the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God!  And we are!  Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know Him. 

~Scott~