"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"
Proverbs 1:7
"Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13
I have been writing about Fearing God over the past few posts. And before I move on to talk about what it looks like and why we should fear God, I want to clear up what it is not.
Fearing God is not being afraid of God.
My favorite professor talked about this once when he was talking about our motivation to be holy people, and the motivation that we (it was a seminary class for IV staff) used to call our students to live holy lives.
He said there are three good motivators laid out in the gospel: Faith, hope and love. But the most common things we used to motivate ourselves and our students were: Guilt, shame and death.
This resonated with me. I stayed "pure" before marriage because of the deep guilt I felt when I went too far. I was kind to people and active in my IV chapter in college because I thought God was deeply ashamed of me. I was good in high school because I knew my mom would kill me if I wasn't (smile). In the end these motivators did not produce great life, and they pushed me far from my Father's embrace. They also fortified some false pride and superiority that God is still cutting out of my life.
But as I've grown closer to the Lord, as I've learned more and more about His heart, I have come to understand the deep energy that can come from being motivated out of His faithfulness to me and my faith in Him and His beauty. I've seen the long lasting fruit of things that I pursue because of the hope I have in my big brother Christ Jesus. And the freeing, overwhelming, and whole giving life I can live when I center myself in His love.
The Fear of the Lord is centered in these things too. Faith, hope and love. Holy fear is rooted in them.
So when you think about fearing God, and you start to feel anxiety, or shame, or you start to getting worried when you imagine meeting this BIG and Powerful God, you need to stop. Take a breath.
That is not appropriate fear. Not when fearing the True God. Not if you have a relationship with Him through His Son.
Try this exercise: turn to the first part of this Faith, Hope and Love verse (1 Corinthians 13). Read the chapter. When Paul writes love, replace it with God, and at the end of each phrase in verses 4-13 apply it to yourself. i.e. "God is patient with me, God is kind toward me..."
And press into the faith, hope and love that is yours through the completed work of Jesus.
"Now these three remain: faith, hope and God. Let the greatest of these in my life be God."
Fearing God is not being afraid of God.
My favorite professor talked about this once when he was talking about our motivation to be holy people, and the motivation that we (it was a seminary class for IV staff) used to call our students to live holy lives.
He said there are three good motivators laid out in the gospel: Faith, hope and love. But the most common things we used to motivate ourselves and our students were: Guilt, shame and death.
This resonated with me. I stayed "pure" before marriage because of the deep guilt I felt when I went too far. I was kind to people and active in my IV chapter in college because I thought God was deeply ashamed of me. I was good in high school because I knew my mom would kill me if I wasn't (smile). In the end these motivators did not produce great life, and they pushed me far from my Father's embrace. They also fortified some false pride and superiority that God is still cutting out of my life.
But as I've grown closer to the Lord, as I've learned more and more about His heart, I have come to understand the deep energy that can come from being motivated out of His faithfulness to me and my faith in Him and His beauty. I've seen the long lasting fruit of things that I pursue because of the hope I have in my big brother Christ Jesus. And the freeing, overwhelming, and whole giving life I can live when I center myself in His love.
The Fear of the Lord is centered in these things too. Faith, hope and love. Holy fear is rooted in them.
So when you think about fearing God, and you start to feel anxiety, or shame, or you start to getting worried when you imagine meeting this BIG and Powerful God, you need to stop. Take a breath.
That is not appropriate fear. Not when fearing the True God. Not if you have a relationship with Him through His Son.
Try this exercise: turn to the first part of this Faith, Hope and Love verse (1 Corinthians 13). Read the chapter. When Paul writes love, replace it with God, and at the end of each phrase in verses 4-13 apply it to yourself. i.e. "God is patient with me, God is kind toward me..."
And press into the faith, hope and love that is yours through the completed work of Jesus.
"Now these three remain: faith, hope and God. Let the greatest of these in my life be God."
Where are you motivated by guilt, shame, or death?
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