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 s