What is fear of God?
Why do we need to fear God when everybody says that God is love?
Why do we need to fear someone who loves us?
There will be times when you start having this kind of questions.
I did.
I used to think that fear of God means that we have to obey God's rules, so that He won't punish us, when the punishment day finally comes.
I used to think that fear of God is some kind of respect to God for He is our Father in Heaven.
I used to think that fear of God is trusting Him, just like we trust our parents' commands and directions without really fully understand why.
However, there is something more than all of these understandings.
Out of nowhere, I stumbled into these verses from John 14, where Jesus said:
"If you love Me, keep my commandments."
then He promised the Holy Spirit to the apostles, and He said again:
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
At first, I was rather confused about what Jesus really meant in that verses, but then I found the connection between love and fear.
Do you remember what you feel when you're in love?
You will feel so much joy, but sometimes you will have fear.
What kind of fear?
The kind where you fear that you have hurt your loved ones.
When you love someone fully, you want them to be happy, and you'll try very hard not to hurt them.
It's basically why Jesus said what He said.
When you love God, you'll definitely keep His commandments.
Why? Not because you have to, not because you want to go to Heaven, but simply because you don't want to hurt God. You love Him so much, that you want Him to be happy.
Sin keeps us away from God and obviously it breaks His heart, but keeping His commandments is what keeping us away from sin and closer to God.
It's the only kind of fear that we should allow in our hearts.
Fear of God's hurting because of our sins.
May you have a blessed weekend and a fruitful lent everyone,
CN.
