Two Sides of Fear
The Lord brought to my attention several verses about fear in my reading today. It is evident from the Bible that fear is a very important fact of life. We are supposed to have a healthy fear of God, and we are not to fear what men can do to us, once we become children of God. (Psalm 27:1) Unfortunately, we often get our fear backwards. We fear man and not God. That leads to serious problems in our lives.
I can see where it is normal to fear other people. No one likes to be mistreated or physically harmed by another person. We have a natural response to danger that leads us to be afraid. However, once we come to know the Lord and have confidence in our relationship with Him, we should be able to get rid of our fear of men. The Bible tells us that "perfect love casts out fear." If we do not lose our fear of man, we will never obey God to the fullest extent, so we will fall short of what He has planned for us.
The same is true for the fear of God. If we do not fear God, we will not obey, and we will be much more prone to disobey God. Therefore, we will fall short of what He has for us. It should be easy for us to fear God after several years of disobedience, because we can easily see the terrible results of our sins.
It just shows us that righteous fear of God and a lack of fear for man is essential to really live the Christian life. Without both sides of fear, we will fail.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 29-32.
I can see where it is normal to fear other people. No one likes to be mistreated or physically harmed by another person. We have a natural response to danger that leads us to be afraid. However, once we come to know the Lord and have confidence in our relationship with Him, we should be able to get rid of our fear of men. The Bible tells us that "perfect love casts out fear." If we do not lose our fear of man, we will never obey God to the fullest extent, so we will fall short of what He has planned for us.
The same is true for the fear of God. If we do not fear God, we will not obey, and we will be much more prone to disobey God. Therefore, we will fall short of what He has for us. It should be easy for us to fear God after several years of disobedience, because we can easily see the terrible results of our sins.
It just shows us that righteous fear of God and a lack of fear for man is essential to really live the Christian life. Without both sides of fear, we will fail.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 29-32.