Fear of God
We had an interesting discussion last night in Small Group about what the "Fear of God" means to us.
Peter advises us that perfect love casts off fear. And if God is Love, how does fear play a role in that love? Is it possible that fear and love are just different sides of the same coin? And if we be wise, best to seek God's face of His grace than the tails of His wrath. The coin is in a strange way, in our court (and I say this as a Calvinist)
When I worked with juvenile delinquents exclusively many years ago at a Reform School (now, as a school counselor, there are always some juvenile delinquents in the mix), there was a saying around the unit called taking "Kindness for Weakness."
That is, a student would interpret an act of kindness as charity from a chump...an individual who could not hold his own, defend his space, enforce his will. For some juvenile delinquents, one could not win with them. If I was punitive they would complain, if I was kind I was a sucker.
All of us are really juvenile delinquents spiritually-speaking, even though we may be adults chronologically. When we start to consider that we deserve grace, we are on some dangerous ground. That is contradictory. We can't deserve grace. Its definition means unmerited favor.
Jesus was always compassionate to the supplicant soul. He was very harsh on those who thought that God favored them because of their sanctity, really self-serving underneath it all.
I think the fear of God is a continuous awareness that we are perpetually dependent on the merits of Christ for any favor from God. When we stop looking to God the Father through Jesus's death on the cross, and instead think that Christ is like some training wheels for our spiritual bike until we learn to ride to God alone, tragedy inevitably follows. Always.
Peter advises us that perfect love casts off fear. And if God is Love, how does fear play a role in that love? Is it possible that fear and love are just different sides of the same coin? And if we be wise, best to seek God's face of His grace than the tails of His wrath. The coin is in a strange way, in our court (and I say this as a Calvinist)
When I worked with juvenile delinquents exclusively many years ago at a Reform School (now, as a school counselor, there are always some juvenile delinquents in the mix), there was a saying around the unit called taking "Kindness for Weakness."
That is, a student would interpret an act of kindness as charity from a chump...an individual who could not hold his own, defend his space, enforce his will. For some juvenile delinquents, one could not win with them. If I was punitive they would complain, if I was kind I was a sucker.
All of us are really juvenile delinquents spiritually-speaking, even though we may be adults chronologically. When we start to consider that we deserve grace, we are on some dangerous ground. That is contradictory. We can't deserve grace. Its definition means unmerited favor.
Jesus was always compassionate to the supplicant soul. He was very harsh on those who thought that God favored them because of their sanctity, really self-serving underneath it all.
I think the fear of God is a continuous awareness that we are perpetually dependent on the merits of Christ for any favor from God. When we stop looking to God the Father through Jesus's death on the cross, and instead think that Christ is like some training wheels for our spiritual bike until we learn to ride to God alone, tragedy inevitably follows. Always.
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