Fear of God is a constant awareness that God exists and is everywhere and can do anything.
There have been great men who lapsed in their fear of God to great consequence. Moses could not enter the promised land after leading the people for 40 years because of his lapse. David's baby died because of his lapse.
Yes God loves every person and wants every person to come to salvation through Jesus, but part of that love is discipline when we fall astray. It's just like how a loving parent will discipline their child when the child does wrong. It's just in this case God's discipline comes from a place of omnipotence.
But then it's more about respect than fear, no? I don't want my children to fear me when they do wrong, I want them to come to me and to learn from the mistake they made. I think that God would see it this way as well.
It's the fear of consequences for your wrong actions. It's not your children fearing you, it's not you fearing God himself, but it's the fear of not having the life you want due to wrong decisions. That fear keeps you on the right path. It's kinda odd to say you have respect for that path, or that it is just respect for God, maybe you do, but how does that lead you anywhere? I can respect someone and not care one bit about what they say to me or do.
Fear is the fear of His wrath for denouncing His wants by our actions.
The fear of God is an Old Testament concept as where the unconditional love of God is through Christ’s sacrifice.
This. God does hit us up side the head. I told my son once "your angels must really love you," because he always got caught and paid a price for acting against his better self. Same thing with Trump, and he got sent to military school. Fear God.
The effects of pleasing or displeasing God are seldom immediate. They can take a very long time. But they can be extremely powerful.
Most things we fear, its because we can see their effects quickly and clearly. Do you fear gravity? Fire? Of course, we all do.
Fear of God is the desire to learn the rules of an unseen force, so that it will never negatively affect your life. Disrespecting gravity or fire can ruin your life, but disrespecting God can ruin your soul. And conversely, fearing God can completely make you, in this life and beyond. If you fear God well, you need not fear any other thing.
..as a side note, I'm not sure which is funnier to me: Christians who don't believe the Bible, or atheists who cite the teachings of Jesus.
Ecclesiastes 8:12-13:
"Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God."
Sin is separation from God. We currently see what separation looks like. If the choices are heaven, or this, should you not fear? Fear is a great motivator…
Now, if you are on the right path, then you should be at peace. The trick is, there are many ways that seem right to a man, but the end of them is death.
It is important to keep that piece of fear in order to remain humble, and not become convinced of self righteousness. It is so, so easy to slip into thinking that the righteousness comes from us and not God.
Humility is something I have been working on for a long time, one of my main life lessons you could say.
I don't want to be humble because I'm frightened of what will happen to me though, I want to be humble because that's what I learnt from Jesus - that it's the right way to be.
Having made 'some' progress, I see the wisdom of it.
Just like love, I believe fear is a translated word. God made us to worship Him. Christ came to die for our sins so that we can be forgiven. It's not hard, yet so many can't do it. They are scared of being ostracised.
took a while, but eventually my love for truth brought me to the fear of God
I've never really understood why we should fear God. Respect, Love, absolutely - but fear?
It doesn't tally with my experience to be honest, so I have a hard time understanding it.
Now, if I was to go off the reservation and set myself against God & Jesus, then yes, I could imagine being fearful, but that isn't happening.
The fear of God is reverence for God, and the fear of offending his holiness.
This ☝️ Also awe and respect. "Take off your shoes for this is holy ground."
Well said
I have offended, and it wasn't fear I felt, it was shame.
Shame is a much stronger motivator for me than fear, as I don't really seem to experience fear the way other people do. Not sure why.
Fear of God is a constant awareness that God exists and is everywhere and can do anything.
There have been great men who lapsed in their fear of God to great consequence. Moses could not enter the promised land after leading the people for 40 years because of his lapse. David's baby died because of his lapse.
Yes God loves every person and wants every person to come to salvation through Jesus, but part of that love is discipline when we fall astray. It's just like how a loving parent will discipline their child when the child does wrong. It's just in this case God's discipline comes from a place of omnipotence.
But then it's more about respect than fear, no? I don't want my children to fear me when they do wrong, I want them to come to me and to learn from the mistake they made. I think that God would see it this way as well.
It's the fear of consequences for your wrong actions. It's not your children fearing you, it's not you fearing God himself, but it's the fear of not having the life you want due to wrong decisions. That fear keeps you on the right path. It's kinda odd to say you have respect for that path, or that it is just respect for God, maybe you do, but how does that lead you anywhere? I can respect someone and not care one bit about what they say to me or do.
Fear is the fear of His wrath for denouncing His wants by our actions. The fear of God is an Old Testament concept as where the unconditional love of God is through Christ’s sacrifice.
This. God does hit us up side the head. I told my son once "your angels must really love you," because he always got caught and paid a price for acting against his better self. Same thing with Trump, and he got sent to military school. Fear God.
Whenever I've been given an opportunity to learn from my mistakes, I'm not fearful, I'm grateful.
I think I must have a different understanding of fear then.
I've read some of the responses on here and the ones about reverence make sense - it's not a use of the word I was familiar with.
I'm not someone who experiences fear the way other people seem to, so maybe my understanding is biased by that.
The effects of pleasing or displeasing God are seldom immediate. They can take a very long time. But they can be extremely powerful.
Most things we fear, its because we can see their effects quickly and clearly. Do you fear gravity? Fire? Of course, we all do.
Fear of God is the desire to learn the rules of an unseen force, so that it will never negatively affect your life. Disrespecting gravity or fire can ruin your life, but disrespecting God can ruin your soul. And conversely, fearing God can completely make you, in this life and beyond. If you fear God well, you need not fear any other thing.
..as a side note, I'm not sure which is funnier to me: Christians who don't believe the Bible, or atheists who cite the teachings of Jesus.
Ecclesiastes 8:12-13:
"Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God."
It's not that I don't believe the Bible, I don't understand the Bible.
However, I have contact with Jesus and he teaches me what I need to know without all the confusion - and that's good enough for me.
great answer. i hope my explanation made sense to you
Sin is separation from God. We currently see what separation looks like. If the choices are heaven, or this, should you not fear? Fear is a great motivator…
Now, if you are on the right path, then you should be at peace. The trick is, there are many ways that seem right to a man, but the end of them is death.
It is important to keep that piece of fear in order to remain humble, and not become convinced of self righteousness. It is so, so easy to slip into thinking that the righteousness comes from us and not God.
Humility is something I have been working on for a long time, one of my main life lessons you could say.
I don't want to be humble because I'm frightened of what will happen to me though, I want to be humble because that's what I learnt from Jesus - that it's the right way to be.
Having made 'some' progress, I see the wisdom of it.
Just like love, I believe fear is a translated word. God made us to worship Him. Christ came to die for our sins so that we can be forgiven. It's not hard, yet so many can't do it. They are scared of being ostracised.