Knowing,
therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to
God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
2 Corinthians 5:11
The fear of God is the
greatest deterrent for sin (Exod. 20:20; Prov. 16:6). Those who perceive God as
a benevolent and gentle grandfather will treat their sin superficially. They
will worship halfheartedly. They will live life on their own terms rather than
God’s. But a reverent fear of holy God will dramatically affect the way a
person lives. Even though Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, he feared God
and knew that one day he would stand in judgment to give an account for
everything he had done (2 Cor. 5:10).
Our world does not
applaud fearfulness. We teach our children to love God, but not to fear Him. We
want to present a loving and nonthreatening image of God to nonbelievers in the
hope that Christianity will be more appealing to them. One of the great
condemnations of our day may be that we have lost the fear of God. We promote
Him as a “best friend” who saves us and “lives in our hearts,” but we do not
fear Him. It is true that we are God’s adopted children and that we are fellow
heirs, even friends, with Jesus (Rom. 8:16-17; John 15:14-15), but we are not
His equals. He has forgiven us, but we are still His creatures. He is God, and
we are not!
If you find that you
have become complacent with God’s commands and have become comfortable in your
sin, you are completely isolated from God’s holiness. Take time to meditate
upon the awesome holiness of God and allow the Holy Spirit to instill into your
life a proper reverence for almighty God (Isa. 40:12-26). A deep sense of awe
is essential to knowing God.
No comments:
Post a Comment