June 2, 2008

The Fear Of God

The following is from Experiencing God Day By Day, by Henry & Richard Blackaby (www.blackaby.org) :

The Terror Of The Lord
Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. (2 Corinthians 5:11)

The fear of God is the greatest deterrent for sin (Exod. 20:20; Prov. 16:6). Those who perceive God as a benevolent and gentle grandfather will treat their sin superficially. They will worship halfheartedly. They will live life on their own terms rather than God’s. But a reverent fear of holy God will dramatically affect the way a person lives. Even though Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, he feared God and knew that one day he would stand in judgment to give an account for everything he had done (2 Cor. 5:10).

Our world does not applaud fearfulness. We teach our children to love God, but not to fear Him. We want to present a loving and nonthreatening image of God to nonbelievers in the hope that Christianity will be more appealing to them. One of the great condemnations of our day may be that we have lost the fear of God. We promote Him as a “best friend” who saves us and “lives in our hearts,” but we do not fear Him. It is true that we are God’s adopted children and that we are fellow heirs, even friends, with Jesus (Rom. 8:16–17; John 15:14–15), but we are not His equals. He has forgiven us, but we are still His creatures. He is God, and we are not!

If you find that you have become complacent with God’s commands and have become comfortable in your sin, you are completely isolated from God’s holiness. Take time to meditate upon the awesome holiness of God and allow the Holy Spirit to instill into your life a proper reverence for almighty God (Isa. 40:12–26). A deep sense of awe is essential to knowing God.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

You're correct. Normally, We have a feeling about Jesus is like a good friend.

I've to meditate upon it.

Thanks for sharing.

:-)
Zen Meditation

Kevin Bart said...

Hi bendz. Welcome back. I think this is an excellent devotion, and shows that while we should keep trying to get closer to God, we always need to keep our reverant attidue toward Him.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this. It is so very true. In today's world, it can be very easy to forget to have a reverent fear of our Holy God.

Kevin Bart said...

Dear Ann, thanks for your visit and comment. I am glad that this has helped you. Take care and God bless.