Saturday, 27 June 2009
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What Does It Mean to Fear God?
The lack of the fear of God is a big problem among non-Christians this generation. People live as if God is not present to reward, discipline, punish or worship. The problem is exaggerated because many Christians do not believe that they should fear God either. There are at least two reasons for this.
1) They have a distorted view of the fear of God.
Many think the 'fear of God' means that they are to be scared of God. There are two senses to this, one being wrong; the other being right.Wrong view: For some, the 'fear of God' portrays an image of God who doesn't care about those around them and does whatever He wants when He wants. The elicited response to such a representation is to fearfully stay as far away as possible from him. This of course is an unbiblical viewpoint of God who cares for His people. A few verses which affirm this are below.
"Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2).
"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16).
2) They have a distorted view of the love of God.
Others believe the love of God has eliminated the need for the 'fear of God.' They believe God has revealed His love through Christ so that the fear of God is no longer needed. In fact, they would contend that holding to the fear of God somehow restricts God's child in knowing the full potential of His love. They would state that the love of God and the fear of God are mutually exclusive apprehensions of God. If one fears God, then he does not really know the love of God.
This problem partly stems from problems below.- They interpret the fear of God to mean bully instead of awesome
- Their concept of the love of God is this over-patronizing image which only affirms and never chastises. These people ignorantly suppose the God of the OT to be wrathful and fearsome while the NT image being loving and all-accepting. Some of these people focus on God being like a warm Mom rather than a mean Dad. Usually these people have a problem with understanding and appreciating God's authority and also want to legitimize their own self-expression.
In fact, believers are not to be scared of God. We have no reason to be scared of Him. We have His promise that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). We have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Fearing God means having such a reverence for Him that it has a great impact on the way we live our lives. The fear of God is respecting Him, obeying Him, submitting to His discipline, and worshipping Him in awe.
So why fear God?
Simply because God will move and great faith trembles.
"And because of the majesty that [God] gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down." (Daniel 5:19)
As Christians we need a very healthy respect and fear for God and His Holiness. We actually need to have somewhat of a fear for God so that we don't take Him and His Word lightly and casually. We should fear God in the manner indicated in the Bible. Do not take God for granted! Do you? - They interpret the fear of God to mean bully instead of awesome
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Comments (5)
well put! Amen!
@sarahflorida1085 - thank you!
I was on the Spirit side for decades, and in recent months included the fear of God. I noticed that the fear of God caused me to get more serious about ingrained sins.
frank
@FRANK@revelife - oh i see haha, yea that was what I felt when I chose to fear God. And what do you mean by Spirit side?
@ieatworksleep - by on the 'Spirit' side, I do not mean charismatic, even though there is a great deal about Charismatics that I like a great deal. First, I noticed the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Then I read a book written by the late Ray C. Stedman called 'Body Life.' He discussed the Christians power in chapter 6. To be brief, he wrote, 'Therefore, the Christian gets up every morning that Christ resides within him/her with His resurrection power knowing that HE will add the divine + to all of his/her activities. It did not depend on how we feel or anything we did. I knew that the Spirit of Christ lived in me. That was wonderful news to me and changed my life. This happened at least 30 years ago, and that teaching blessed me greatly.
Then for some reason, the 'fear' of God hit me about 2 months ago. No reverential fear, but FEAR. I then started hearing a few messages about the FLESH--my flesh. There had been some long term ingrained sins that troubled me, and not everyone I trusted with the information, believed it was sinful. Any way, I started, based on fear, 'trying' to deal with this 'stuff.' I am having success. Even the old desires themselves are greatly dimished.
My conclusion. I did not accept my responsibility in turning from sin.
I have to say that walking in the Spirit really does have great value, but we do need to make effort ourself of some of it.
I am still trying to figure 'stuff' out in my Christian life.
Blessings
frank