If you are a Christian, do you fear the Lord your God?
The Bible certainly instructs you so to do; it famously, also, of course, commands you to love God. I’m sure that we could have an interesting conversation about the psychological implications of both loving and fearing somebody… and I’m guessing that most folk would agree that a human relationship between two humans where one both loved and feared the other was not, well, ideal; if anybody wants to take that tangent, I’ll be happy to engage.
The main thing I want to explore today, though, is the aspect of fearing God.
“Fear” is almost certainly a word that doesn’t often cause people to run to a dictionary for a definition, since it describes what many people would describe as an emotional that is a fundamental aspect of what it is to be human… we have all experienced it in one way or another at various times… heck, there are even folk who are addicted to the emotion who risk their lives to get a buzz… and apologies for mentioning it if it causes you discomfort, but of course there are also some who would welcome it in the bedroom. All that being said, I am going to state a definition here:
As a noun: an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.
As a verb: be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful.
I don’t know of many Christians who believe that they personally are going to end up in Hell… Christians have faith, generally speaking, that they are due to be saved from that particular threat… trained to, in fact. So… I don’t know… to me, if you sincerely believe that you are going to live forever in God’s grace then you shouldn’t fear Hell… but I’d be interested to know how many Christians agree.
There are, of course, more potential threats of danger, pain and harm that a person might fear… but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the notion that anybody who sincerely believes that they are going to heaven actively fears what God might do to them in this brief life… but again, I’d be interested to hear from some practicing Christians.
Then again… given that there are a number of folk who come to stop believing in Christianity for whom a sense of fear persists in nightmares and unbidden thoughts, in some cases for many years (as was the case for me)… well… that suggests that the fear certainly exists.
So… again… if you are a Christian, do you fear God?
I’d particularly like to know what that looks like in the ordinary day-to-day process of life: what danger, pain or harm do you fear from the loving God that y’all claim to worship?
How much do you fear God? As much as you love Him?
How often do you experience that fear?
Does that fear add a depth to the experience of being a Christian akin to how fear adds depth to the experience of sky diving?
How is it for you?