119 A LITTLE FEAR
119 A LITTLE FEAR
Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
A little fear is a good thing; children, afraid of discipline, will behave better, criminals, afraid of the law enforcement system, will reframe from crime, workers, afraid of losing their jobs, will work harder and better, sinners, afraid of an angry God, will change their way of doing things, etc.
As children grow, it is customary for parents to teach them to be a little afraid of them so the children will pay attention to the life lessons that the parents must teach them so that they can be honorable and healthy adults. These children then grow up and make their children a little afraid so that they can pass these good lessons on to the next generation and so on and so on.
By doing this, we, the adults, pass on good healthy habits to the next generation that they need to fit into society in a productive and positive way. By producing a society that is unified and caring is what God wants us to do and He is willing to teach us everything we need to know about how to do this; that is why He wants us to be a little afraid of Him. As our heavenly father, He wants only the best for us and creates this little fear so we will pay attention to Him and what He has for us.
I have a personal saying; everyone, and I mean everyone, has a boss. [Yes, even God has a boss; it’s His word. He gave us His word to tell us what He is like and, so, He has to live up to it because He cannot lie. When we are talking to Him, we can remind Him of His word and He does not mind this because it lets Him know that we value His word and what we are asking Him for is valuable enough for us to try hard for it.]
As we live our life, we should be afraid of a number of things; as a matter of fact, we should have a chain of little fears as we go up the authority line. We should be afraid to do bad things because of our teaching but, if we are not, then we should be afraid to do those bad things because they will hurt others. To go further up the chain of authority; we should be afraid to do those bad things because it will hurt those we love; family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, Jesus and God and, finally, ourselves. [Yes, I put us last on the list because people have a great sense of protecting themselves and their interests above everything else.]
We teach each other about unnecessary fears and don’t teach each other about the very real and necessary fears. We are afraid of a cut or the pain associated with losing a part of our body and not afraid of the pain of rejection and exclusion from something or someplace that we really should and want to be. When we get a cut or lose a part of our body, there is no immediate pain; our nerves go into shock and we feel nothing until that shock wears off. Pain from rejection or exclusion lasts for a long time; until we have dealt with it mentally or, in the case of rejection by God into His sinless heaven, it will last forever. [A good reason to have a little fear in your heart.]
Our fear or lack thereof, is evident to God and everyone else by the things that we do. God understands the reasons why we act the way we do and is sad because He can see the selfishness of our decisions; even though He has warned us of the upcoming discipline, punishment and pain.
Not to leave this on a negative note, God also says; 1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
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Contemporary man finds faith hard to enter and even to return to because he is afraid of the moral demands his faith makes upon him. We are aware of many who fear to approach the alter of Christ because of their failings, their awarness of their sin.
But the words "Be not afraid" confirm not only all the demands contained in the Gospel but at the same time give proof of the saving and redemptive power
proclaimed within.
Fear dissolves in the truth of Love that became man, was crucified and risen and is present among us today. Demands made by this Love do not exceed any persons ability. With the Grace of God, Grace which never fails, none among us has need to fear our human weakness.
"Be not afraid", to be man for man is saved and redeemed! Holy fear of the Lord is this, to lose this Love by our rejection of it.