All my life I have been striving to fear nothing (and well, if I have to take accountability for myself, succeeding.) For the first time in my life I'm asking if this is actually a good thing.
Yes yes, the Fear of God. I don't consider this to be a phobia or something to 'EEEEEEEKKK!!!' at. My relationship with God is of whole respect and love... This is where things get fuzzy. SHOULD I be afraid of God? I recently heard a sermon by Mr. Smith that was about our 'Dangerous God.' It was quite inspiring and thought-invoking, and it left a taste in my mouth that meant I needed to do some thinking. The point of this post -I must point out- is not actually what Mr. Smith was talking about, but a lot of the premises were there to get the cogs churning.
Does a certain phobia of what God can and will do to you incite further obedience? In my most recent (before all this incessant pondering) ideals this type of fear would only result in knots in necks, useless tears, and nothing more. Do people follow God out of terror? Is God leading people solely out of their own fear in some specific and isolated cases? Is that what some people need for motivation? Should I pity them? (at this current juncture, I truly do.)
Can one not follow God simply to be on the good side? To side with those that most perfectly fit your inner need to love, make people happy, instruct, take instruction, and emulate the hero? (Christ) Can this not be your underlying motive for following God?
All of this thinking gets a bit difficult when I try to apply it to people around me. Why is such-and-such in the Church of God? Why is he not? They both know the truth. What decisions were made about your internal moral character that made one go one way and one the other? What about God's calling echoed differently in each persons psyche?
I have some studying to do. And in the first time in a while its not on someone else's suggestion.
Life is good. I can't sleep due to having this cough/sneeze/sniffle/headache. Might as well enjoy myself.
1 comment:
It's the same things parents go through when raising kids. If you're good, then you get praised. If you're bad, you get punished. Or at least, that's the general rule. Do we fear our parents as little kids just after screwing up, knowing full well what's going to happen to us? Are we not that much more happy when our parents praise us and take us out for a treat? God just has greater power to do both. If we're on his good side, then we respect Him because His ways are good and fair and they work. If we are sinning against His spiritual Law, then the consequences can be extremely tough. However, if you're regularly on His good side and screw up, then His mercy is great to you eternally, however, physically, you could still get a tough lesson. Also, according to Mr. Smith's sermon, God may choose to just GIVE you a tough physical trial just to see how you or others around you handle it. But He's doing it for the good of everyone involved because, spiritually-speaking, you'll grow from it and be a better tool in His hand in the Kingdom.
So fear Him literally? Let's just say that if you don't know Him that well, then shock and awe is coming... Not because He's overtly mean, but because you won't understand why these things are happening to you and others... Much like people today already think. And if you know that God demands justice and you're intentionally not doing right by Him or mistreating His children, then yes, I would say that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God," if only to teach you a lesson to not be so selfish and stupid. At worst, you could be wiped out forever. The lessons God teaches are far more cutting and deep than most of us have experienced.
Yet if you know Him and are trying to do the best you can, then you know that trials and difficult times will be with us always in this physical life. But because we don't know the when and how, that can cause some apprehension and stress. However, in my experience, I'm greatly relieved of some of that pain and difficulty once I realize what I'm supposed to learn and how I'm growing. That may not stop the pain of an illness or the grief of a lost loved one, but from an eternal perspective, it will comfort.
Overall, I think that we must realize that God demands our respect of Him, His holiness and His Laws not only because of His awesome power, but because all of these things are good for us, too. "You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am Holy." That is a directive with teeth, but it's also a promise.
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