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Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Pros of Having a Little Fear

Ever heard someone say "I'm not afraid of anything?"  Well, people may say that, but I think that is often untrue.  I have said that, but there are a few things I'm afraid of.  I have lost a lot of people in my life, I am not real keen on the idea of losing my wife or my kids.  I am sorta concerned about cancer, having lost so many family members too it.  I am also scared of birds in enclosed places.  It's a phobia, I can't explain it.  I have also discovered this applies to bats as well.  When I get a bat in the house, I get a little panicked.

Now, there are good fears that are good for us.  Most of us are afraid of falling off large drop offs, deep bodies of water with man eating creatures, fire and explosions and things that cause us death or dismemberment.  Our natural instinct is not to die.  Most of us prefer to live rather than to suffer a painful, gruesome and awful fate.  It's self preservation to survive, and the fight or flight reaction is often a life saving reaction.

Many fears in life effect us negatively, however.  Fears keep us captive, hold us back, stop of from fulfilling our dreams or moving forward.  They stop us from saying the things that need to be said, doing the things that need done and keeping us captive.  Many fears can be bad negatively effect the quality of live, but there is one fear that I want to focus on.  This fear is necessary for our healthy living and our well being.

The Bible tells us over and over that we should fear the Lord.  Solomon said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  In our American Christian culture, we dismiss this idea we say "well it's not really fear, it's more like reverence or respect." Sure, reverence and respect is part of it, but we have lost our minds if we think we need not fear God.  We approach God without even giving thought to the power and holiness of God.  Every person in the Bible who saw God experienced fear.  Isaiah fell down as dead, Moses changed forever, John the Apostle fell down at the feet of the Glorified Lord and Savior when He appeared to him.  Fear is the beginning of wisdom, because of the power of God, His holiness and the fact He punishes sin.  We sin without even thinking that we are offending a God who is all powerful.  He holds our lives, our eternity, our very existence in His hands, some reverence, respect and yes, even fear is warranted.

We fear God, but we rest in knowing He loves and cares of us.  He is gentle, He is loving and caring and while He could choose to destroy all mankind in their sin, He chooses instead to redeem us.  He has every right to destroy us, but He instead chooses to be patient.  Don't be fooled, however, one day time will run out and He will reveal His wrath against sin and evil and unrighteousness.  At that day, many will understand what it means to fear the Lord.

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