“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” - Proverbs 8:13
I realize that the subject of fearing God is unpopular. There will be some who will immediately turn away from reading this, simply because of the subject matter. I admit that there are more enjoyable subjects than this. I could write about popular subjects like the love of God or the grace of God. While there is much to say about these subjects, I feel the need to write about fearing the Lord.
Our nation is in such a mess right now. This is due, in part, to the fact that most people do not fear God. In fact, the leaven of sin is rapidly spreading throughout churches because many church members lack the fear of God. If we feared God, would we be quick to create division in the church? Would there be so much pride and arrogance? Would we be so permissive about sinful life styles? Have we decided to exclude the first few chapters of Romans from our Bibles?
During my Bible reading of Romans this morning, I came across the fact that there will come a day in which, “... God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ...” Think about it. Your secrets and mine will be revealed and judged soon by our Lord. Does that make you uncomfortable? God knows about our thoughts of jealously, judgment, greed, lust, anger, hatred and selfishness. He knows these secret thoughts and will one day expose and judge them.
We tend to be very judgmental about the outward sins of others, while practicing secret sins ourselves. God knows the secret sins. While God will judge the public sins, He will also judge the secret sins. Like David, we should pray, “Cleanse thou me of secret faults.”
The fear of God is like a guardrail on a curvy, dangerous road. Guardrails are set in place for our protection. The fear of God keeps us from lawlessness. Fearing God motivates us to hate and avoid evil.
What kept Joseph from an adulterous affair with Potiphar's wife? It was the fear of God. Joseph said, “... how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” If Joseph had committed adultery, he would have sinned against Potiphar, Potiphar's wife and his own body. But Joseph knew that, most of all, it would have been a sin against God Himself.
It would be horrible to leave this world while engaged in sin, wouldn't it? Yet many professing believers have no problem with fornication and adultery. Others think it is acceptable to lie or cheat. They live as if God isn't watching. They act as if there will be no consequences for their sins. The fear of God is missing from their lives.
Many act as if God is a grandfather-type person in heaven. They believe that, when we sin, God simply pats us on the head says, “try to do better next time.” These people believe in forgiveness without repentance. They believe in love, but not chastisement. But Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
I know that someone will argue that we should love God instead of fear Him. Actually, we should do both.
When I was growing up, I loved my earthly father … and I feared him, too. I loved and respected my father. Yet my fear of his punishment kept me from going far away from his rules. When he provided correction, it was done with love. He didn't want me to become unruly and ruin my life. He knew how to practice tough love.
Even though my earthly father loved me, my heavenly Father loves me more. Because He loves me, He provides discipline when I need it. I love my heavenly Father, but I also fear His discipline. I don't want to hurt or offend Him. I don't want to disappoint Him. I have found that His discipline can be severe, yet needed. He loves me too much to let me self-destruct with sin.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Let us be wise and walk in the fear of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment