Fear/Love
Read 1 John 4:7-21.
What are you afraid of? What keeps you up at night? In the film Monsters, Inc., the monsters who came to scare little kids were tailored for each child. Other monsters weren't scary to children, only the one meant for them. The film was, in a cute way, reminding us that things that scare you might not scare someone else. But fear is a condition universal to humanity.
Except, John says, it doesn't have to be. "Perfect love," John says, "drives out fear" (4:18). Fear, John says, is intimately tied to punishment. We fear because of what might happen. We fear doing something wrong, for instance, because we might get caught and be punished. We fear disobeying because of the consequences. When we believe and embrace the truth that God really does love us, fear becomes a thing of the past.
Except...
Doesn't the Bible tell us over and over again to "fear" the Lord? And isn't there such a thing as a healthy fear? Of course there is. Out of love and concern, we teach our children to fear certain things: touching a hot stove, crossing a street without looking, "stranger danger." That's all a part of good parenting. We don't want our children to fear unnecessarily, but we do desire to have them show a healthy "fear" or respect toward things that could harm them. They need to know where they stand in the scheme of things.
And isn't it the same with God? While we should not be fearful of him, we should have a healthy fear/respect because he is God and we are not. It's understanding our place in the scheme of things. It's knowing that his love is far and above what we could ever imagine. It's perfect and ours is so often (always?) not.
Fear the Lord. But don't be afraid of him. Give him respect, worship and honor, but know that he loves you more than you can imagine.
What are you afraid of? What keeps you up at night? In the film Monsters, Inc., the monsters who came to scare little kids were tailored for each child. Other monsters weren't scary to children, only the one meant for them. The film was, in a cute way, reminding us that things that scare you might not scare someone else. But fear is a condition universal to humanity.
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| Boo! |
Except...
Doesn't the Bible tell us over and over again to "fear" the Lord? And isn't there such a thing as a healthy fear? Of course there is. Out of love and concern, we teach our children to fear certain things: touching a hot stove, crossing a street without looking, "stranger danger." That's all a part of good parenting. We don't want our children to fear unnecessarily, but we do desire to have them show a healthy "fear" or respect toward things that could harm them. They need to know where they stand in the scheme of things.
And isn't it the same with God? While we should not be fearful of him, we should have a healthy fear/respect because he is God and we are not. It's understanding our place in the scheme of things. It's knowing that his love is far and above what we could ever imagine. It's perfect and ours is so often (always?) not.
Fear the Lord. But don't be afraid of him. Give him respect, worship and honor, but know that he loves you more than you can imagine.
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