The Christianity I Had Lost Sight of | Misconception 2

Good evening!

The next misconception I am looking at is the following:

God is to be loved but there is no need to fear Him.

I think we have all heard many times that we are to fear the Lord. But what does that really mean? Are we supposed to be afraid of God?

The short answer is, well, yes.

And the long answer is this blog post.

For many of my (almost) fifteen years, this concept confused me deeply. How can we have a deep relationship with someone we are scared of? But what helped me understand was reading the Chronicles of Narnia.

C.S. Lewis did a wonderful job using allegory to help us understand spirituality and God better. And I will never forget the conversation in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in which one of the Pevensie children asked Mr. Beaver, about Aslan, "Is he quite safe?" And Mr. Beaver replied, "Of course he's not safe! But he's good."

I seem to often forget that if God wanted to, He could consume me just by breathing in. I think all to often it slips my mind that the God who created me created Mount Everest. God does what He says He will, and as a result, I know He won't consume me, since I am His child. But He could. And I ought to remember that. The Pevensie children loved Aslan an incredible lot. But they were also somewhat afraid of him. They saw him come to life again. They saw him breathe life into stone statues. They saw him defeat the White Witch. Yes, they ran to him and laid their heads against his mane. But they also bowed before him. It was that mixture of love and fear that made their relationships with him so wonderful.

What happened to the fear of the Lord? Did it leave us when the apostles did? No, I think it's still around, but it is scarce. What is the result of a lack of fear of the Lord?

For non-Christians, I believe it is what is described in Romans 1.

Romans 1:21-25:

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For Christians, I believe the result is walking in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. When we begin to walk in the flesh and allow our flesh to rule us, we begin to do many evil things. No, God likely won't consume us, but why should we test Him?

Lamentations 3:22:

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.

Exodus 20:20:

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

For us, the great thing about the fear of the Lord is that since we are on His side we know He will not use His power against us but for us. But we ought to remember His power when we are tempted to sin, not just when we need some help.

Psalm 19:9:

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

Proverbs 14:2:

He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, But he who is devious in his ways despises Him.

Let us love Him - awestruck.