Fear God

I heard a good message in Sunday school about what it means to fear God. It was from a new video by Francis Chan: Fear God.

He started out by talking about how Christians have a hard time defining the fear of God. A common term used is respect. He disagreed and I do too. If Scripture had meant respect then that is what it would have said.

I think one reason we have a problem is that we want to present God as all love. Fear just doesn’t fit with that. We tell people that God loves them. Maybe what we need to tell people is they better be terrified of God also.

As I thought about it, I think fearing God means to take Him seriously. He is love but he is also a judge. If someone rejects the Gospel they will spend eternity in hell. So too, if a Christian messes around with pet sins, they will face certain consequences.

As a parent I want my kids to know I love them but I also want them to take me seriously. I want them to fear the consequences of disobedience and I hope that what they learn in their relationship with me will be transferred to their relationship with God. I want them to know that if they sin there will be consequences.

Another reason we may have a problem with understanding the fear of God is if we have a deficient understanding of God. Where do we get our standards? How do we know what God is like? How should we live? For many people, the answers come from the world. They are discipled by TV, movies and their friends.

The Bible is the source of the right answers. It’s not enough to have one on the shelf or to hear it talked about in church. If we want to know the fear of God and how He wants us to live then we must become disciplined students. We must have enough washing of our minds with the Word to counteract the steady diet we all receive every day from the things our eyes see, our ears hear and out hearts feel.

Philip