Hi,Brad,
I much much appreciated this post and it goes into my personal archive.
for me the total trust that God's love is worthy of comes very hard
at times. I did not learn it as a child and find it hard to get love
and trust for God from my head down to my middle
thanks for your post that expounded on love and fear.
Hugs and prayers,
Doris
At 11:48 AM 11/11/2007 -0600, you wrote:
>So Which Is It… Love Or Fear
>
>If you read Proverbs and the Psalms you will se such references as
>"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom", or "The fear of
>the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", and passages which seem to
>indicate fear is a good thing to have towards god. A short while ago
>the question was posed on this list… "Do you fear God?" and
>perhaps the passage below will serve as a checkpoint for us in
>response to that question.
>
>"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because
>fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in
>love." -- 1 John 4:18
>
>OK? So which is it then. Fear or love. We have instruction saying we
>are wise, have knowledge and understanding if we fear the Lord, and
>right here with our own ears, we hear scripture telling us that if
>we have fear, we are not perfect in love. These kinds of apparent
>contradictions are where the Word tends to separate the wheat from
>the chaff. Those of God who are the wheat will be curious or
>otherwise disturbed by an apparent contradiction and have a desire
>to seek out which is right, or why is God saying this to us in this
>manner. And the chaff look you in the eye, push the bible to the
>middle of the table, lean back in their chair with hands folded
>behind the head and say "See? This is why I don't believe this
>nonsense, it can't be trusted because it contradicts itself. And I
>just ain't going to play mind games like that. If you want to?
>That's up to you. But for me? No way."
>
>Do you think people would really say that? I know they would
>because before I was a believer I was one of them. However there is
>another passage that is very helpful, and it goes something like this…
>
>"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
>turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,
>and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and
>if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden
>treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the
>knowledge of God."-- Proverbs 2:1-5
>
>So we see that finding out about fear, wisdom, understanding,
>knowledge and all about god first starts with the willingness to dig
>in and search it out rather than pulling up to the chair, with
>napkin stuffed in the collar of your shirt, licking your chops with
>fork and knife clenched in the hands waiting for it to be served to you.
>
>So we see that it starts with willingness which in of itself is a
>wonderful revelation but that still doesn't answer should we fear
>when scripture tells us that we are not perfect in love if we do
>fear? I am the furthest thing from a theologian, haven't been
>through Bible school but just a simple man trying to study and apply
>the Word of God in life, one who grew up in the old school Lutheran
>mentality that touted, "You're a sinner, God punishes sinners, you
>need to go to church and not sin, but you are a sinner so you will
>sin eventually, and God is just waiting for you to mess up pal so go
>ahead…. Make his day!"
>
>Lovely isn't it. Is it no wonder why some of us have difficulty
>removing the Lightening Bolt God
>>from our heart's eyeball and implant it with a
>God of love? I am a true believer in that scripture interprets
>scripture and that there is no doubt that one can take a scripture
>at random and build a whole message that is wrong from it not having
>put it into context or the big picture of what God is saying.
>
>So which is it? Fear or love? Looking at the big picture and how we
>humans seem to respond, it seems to me that the "fear of the Lord is
>the beginning of…" is just that, the beginning of something. That
>tells me there is more to come and the fear is the beginning. That
>is to say, fear meaning fright. Fear often times is translated to
>English from an original word which means reverence or awe. I
>personally tend to believe that we ought never to lose the reverence
>and recognition of sovereignty of God but the fear of his rebuke or
>punishment is soon to be done away with. If we liken it to our
>humanly father-son or father-daughter relationship, can we remember
>back as a child when we got in trouble and our mom said "Just wait
>until your father gets home"? Or remember getting a leather strap as
>punishment as a result for not following their rules, to bring us to
>a point of compliance? Then later as we grew up and matured we no
>longer had fear of our father but grew to love and appreciate his
>wisdom and knowledge. We grow to a point of "wanting" to please him
>rather than feeling we "have" to please him. That is how I
>personally view the frightful part of "fear of the Lord" that which
>gains our attention, that which tells us if we do not draw near to
>him and become his child, because of his word he put in place, there
>will be eternal punishment, but if you come to him there is love and
>we are to hold him in high reverence and respect because he is after
>all god and that we ought not be frightful of him because he loves us.
>
>Now reading the scripture at the beginning of this note again…
>
>"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because
>fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in
>love." -- 1 John 4:18
>
>I begin to think of things in my life, things which seem out of my
>control that bring on a sense of fear and immediately think… "Wait a
>minute, if I truly loved god, why am I being fearful? Do I truly
>love god and does he truly love me? Because if the thing I
>fear occurs, it sure don't seem like any kind of reward but some
>kind of punishment.
>
>I'm immediately taken in mind to a passage that says that God
>disciplines those he loves and those he does not discipline are not
>a child of his. Which at first seems like not such a good thing to
>be disciplined, and yet if I know it is a discipline and not a
>punishment, first I know he loves me, and I begin to see that the
>love I feel for God is true and also that although there might be a
>discipline because I'm not perfect, he is in control and will not
>put upon me more than I can handle, and will be there for me and with me.
>
>Let's close with a comparison of our love for our biological father
>and his love for us. We are human and not perfect and so yes we've
>had words against each other in our lifetime but we have an inner
>love that supersedes any fear of them hurting us. Now there are
>situations in life where a child has been hurt by a father, and
>unfortunately it goes on even today in any given newspaper in this
>country at any given day, very sad, but there is a lack of love in
>that relationship on the part of the father, and the response to
>that is fear from the child towards the father and in reality lack
>of love. Notice the child's response to the father's love? Or lack
>there of? Scripture tells us that with god, he first loved us, so we
>can have full trust and lack of fear knowing he loves us, and we in
>turn love him. We have no need to fear, and the evidence of that
>lack of fear is love.
>
>Our love as humans is conditional, that is to say we base it on
>conditions that affect us. If we love someone in response to them
>loving us, and they harm us badly, our initial response is lack of
>love in response to feeling if they loved us they would not have
>done this thing to us. Unconditional love is where love exists no
>matter what happens, which I believe God as being the only one
>capable of that. If love towards God is compromised at any point,
>look to fear as the culprit and through wisdom, knowledge and
>understanding that the fear is unwarranted, he loves you, and is in
>control if you submit to him and even though you are in a rough
>stretch of road at the moment, he will care for it and perhaps
>trying to draw you in closer to him, not as punishment, perhaps a
>discipline or a guiding hand, but not punishment.
>
>Let your love for him and your recognition of his love for you bring
>peace to any fear and stand assured that God's Word is the inherent
>unfailing truth when it says…
>
>"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
>love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
>
>Brad
>
>
>
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"Pray, pray, pray!" - Pray without ceasing. (1 Th 5:17)
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