The Fear of God

A few of my close friends got into a debate yesterday over the topic of fearing God. This inspired me to write about some of my own views concerning fearing God.

The first issue is the need for pre-salvation fear of God. I cannot elaborate on this too much, because I believe that all that is required for salvation is faith and repentance. God saved me as a sinner of four years old. At that young age, I did not fear God. I knew He loved me, and I loved Him. I knew that I was a sinner destined for Hell, but I did not even understand that Hell was His judgment. Therefore, based on my own experience (for I do believe I was truly saved at four), I would say that you do not need a fear of God to be saved.

The next issue is the definition of fear. The main argument is literal fear versus respect. I believe that the Bible does command us to literally fear God. Many people do not like to view God this way because they believe it takes away from his grace, mercy, and love. On the contrary, it leavens them all.

When I was a child, I had a healthy fear of my father. My father was not abusive in any way, but I knew that if I disobeyed him, a spanking was a'comin. I knew he loved me, and I loved him. I called him Daddy, and he called me Buddy. He loved me, but there was judgment when judgment was needed.

God is not a teddy-bear. He is the Almighty that destroy nations with a word, but He also decided to love you. May we never test God on this. God is like a bull dog that will break you to pieces, but He will use those pieces to create a masterpiece.

I would like to leave you with a personal experience of my own. There was a moment that I was being tempted to sin. My flesh and the temptation seemed to overpower my conscience. When the temptation was reaching its strongest, the thought of God's disappointment flashed through my mind. I thought, "I really do not care if God is going to be mad or not." As soon as I thought this, an overwhelming fear enveloped me because I realized what I had done. Was this fear simply from a respect for God? No. I know His true power, and the sin unto death is real. Let us not test the murky waters of God's wrath. He saved us, and we need to obey accordingly.