“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” - Proverbs 9:10
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” - Matthew 22:37
Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the United States in 1933. He defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover in a landslide election in late 1932. Voters blamed Hoover and his policies for the economic crisis they were facing. The crisis, known as the Great Depression, had put many people out of work. Families were struggling to survive. It was difficult for men to provide for their own families.
During his inauguration speech, Roosevelt tried to calm Americans by famously saying, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Fear is a powerful emotion. So is love.
The words, “fear,” and “love,” don't seem to go together. In fact, 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." We must understand this verse in context. Overall, God's people should be loving, not fearful. Yet it is wrong to make this a blanket statement. There is a place for fear and love in the life of a believer.
With all due respect, FDR was not accurate in saying, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” More than once, the Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” There was a time when a Christian man was referred to as a “God-fearing man.” Where are such men today?
As Christians, we should fear and love God. Both are important. Many sermons have been preached about loving God, but these days it is rare to hear a sermon about fearing God. Briefly, I want to explain why it is important to love God … and fear Him.
First of all, the fear of God should motivate us to avoid evil. America is in a mess today because people don't fear God. As I already mentioned, many pulpits are silent about the subject of fearing God. As a result, many believers have an unbalanced view of God. Most Christians believe God to be loving, but they really don't think about such things as God's holiness and righteousness. When Isaiah saw the Lord in His holiness, he responded, “Woe is me!” In Revelation chapter 1, when John saw the glorified Son of God, he fell at his feet. Our God is an awesome God.
At one time, I taught that the fearing God is showing reverence to Him. While there is truth to that, it goes much deeper. We should fear God because He is mighty, holy and perfect. If we saw God's awesome power on display, we would be awe-struck. Yes, we should show reverence to Him, but there should be a healthy fear of His power. Also, we should be aware of His hatred of sin. God takes sin seriously, and so should we. It is one thing to hate sin in Hollywood or Capitol Hill, but what we need to hate most is our own sin. Realizing that there are serious consequences to sin, we should fear God. As Christians, we believe that Jesus took our sins upon Himself when He died on the cross. We believe that He paid the penalty for our sins. That is true. Yet the cross should be a reminder of how serious God treats sin. If sin is so bad that Jesus had to suffer such an awful death, why should we treat it so lightly? Rather than being careless, calloused or even calculating with sin, we should hate and forsake sin because we fear God.
Secondly, we should have a love for God. Our fear of God should motivate us to avoid evil, but our love for God should motivate us live in righteousness. We love God because He first loved us. As we consider His amazing love, it stirs us to love Him. He cared for us in spite of our unworthiness. He cared so much that He gave heaven's best for us. Jesus demonstrated His love toward us when He died on the cross, paying for our sins. He paid a debt He didn't owe because we had a debt we couldn't pay. Because of His incredible love for us, we love Him in return.
Our love for Him motivates us to serve. We work for the Lord because we love Him. Our spiritual activity is motivated by our love for God. While our fear of God keeps us from the things we shouldn't do, love prompts us to do the things we should do. When we love God, we also love His children. In fact, when we love the Lord, we also love the things that He loves.
Yes, as Christians, we should love God. At the same time, we should fear Him. We should be God-loving, God-fearing followers of Jesus.
Does this describe you?
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