A Framework for Faith/Spiritual Practice

Everyone should call upon and beseech the Lord of heaven and earth to stir up fear and love of Him within his heart; for until the fear of God enters his heart, one is but lukewarm. When fear is weak, repentance is weak. When repentance is weak, religion is weak.

  - Colman mac Beognai, Aipgitir Chrabaid (Irish, 7th century)

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD..."

  - Deuteronomy 10.12, 13

We may not like to think about it, but Christians are commanded to fear the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the proper context within which to bring holiness to completion (2 Cor. 7.1), to work out our salvation (Phil. 2.12), to carry out our civic duties (1 Pet. 2.17), and to serve the Lord in all things (Ps. 2.11).

The fear of the Lord is clean (Ps. 19.9), the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111.10), the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1.7), and leads to eternal life (Prov. 19.23).

The fear of the Lord is the whole duty of a man (Eccl. 12.13).

Why should we fear God? You mean, besides the fact that He commands us to fear Him? OK, well consider this: He is God - holy, omniscient, all-powerful, and without need of anyone or anything outside Himself; He is of purer eyes than to behold evil; He condemns injustice and ungodliness wherever He finds it; He will by no means clear the guilty; He can destroy body and soul in hell.

Oh, that! Yes, that. We should fear God because of what He is capable of doing, and because of what He by right should do to us.

But we love Him, even as we fear Him, not only because He does not give us what we deserve, but He gives us what we do not deserve. He Who is all-powerful to destroy evil is all-merciful and gracious toward us who deserve destruction. We should fear and love God for these and many more reasons.

And we should practice repentance in the fear and love of God - love because we want to be like Him, fear because, if we do not repent, He can bring unpleasant discipline against us until we do (Heb. 12.3-11).

There is a happy and healthy tension between fearing God and loving Him, and it is every Christian's duty to find that tension and live in the midst of it. This is where we will know the presence of the Lord and find the power to serve Him in all things.

Do you fear God?

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

ReVision - Any Kansans out there? This piece on the Westboro Baptists is specifically for you.

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