We don’t need to be afraid of God. We do need to fear God but we don’t need to be afraid of God. Proverbs 1:7 says, “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge.” The fear we are supposed to have is a reverence, a respect, an acknowledgement of the holiness and greatness of God. Whenever a person in the Bible encountered God in His glory in the Bible, they fell to the ground, they covered their eyes. They were moved to say with Isaiah, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV).
In C.S. Lewis‘ classic, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the main characters Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are told they are going to be brought to see the King of Narnia, the Son of the Great Emperor across the Sea. And they are told he is a lion. Susan, ever the example of the practical young woman asks, “Is he safe?” I love the reply she is given, “Safe! Who said anything about safe! Of course he isn’t safe, but he’s good.” God isn’t safe. We need to fear Him. We would be stupid not to. But God is also good. He is love. He is Your Father.
A gentleman who thought Christianity was merely a heap of puzzling problems, said to an old minister, “That is a very strange statement, ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.’
“Very strange,” replied the minister; “but what is it that you see most strange about it?”
“Oh, that part, of course, about hating Esau.”
“Well, sir,” said the minister, “how wonderfully are we made and how differently constituted! The strangest part of all to me is that He could ever have loved Jacob. There is no mystery so glorious as the mystery of God’s love” (Un-attributed illustration from Heart Warming Bible Illustrations, Sermon Builders 4.0).
We don’t need to worry about earning or keeping His approval. We are loved by God because of who we are in Christ, not because of anything we have done. We are His sons. We are His daughters. And because of that we don’t need to be afraid of Him.
I have three daughters. I am the only male living in my house. I am a minority in a sorority. I love being a dad, and I love my girls. I love them because God made me their dad. I love them because they are my children. No matter what they have done or will do in the future nothing will change the fact that I am their dad and that they are God’s gifts to me. I will always love them. My love for them is not based in what they do, it is based in who they are.
That is the reason God loves His children. It is not based in what we do, though God certainly is not pleased with all that we do. His love for you is based in who you are in Christ. That love frees us to love God and trust God and depend on God in the same way that Jesus did. That is awesome freedom.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 
Respect and fear are not the same.
I respect God. Respect (a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements) Where as fear means (an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.)
When I think of God I never believe he has threatened me, causes me pain nor is he dangerous, and those emotions when thinking of God are far from unpleasent.
I like the post but take a different view. We are always free to love God. I understand for the Chistian people Jesus set you on a path where you nolonger worry about your impurities when you think about and love God. I never had those myself I already know I am unclean, tainted and not worthy. But I also know he loves me none-the-less.
A God that loves us that much has never deserved fear.
I have never been afraid of my earthly father though I don’t look forward to when he is displeased with me I’ve never had reason to fear him. Any punishments I recieved were just and honest not from anger, spite, hatred, danger or threat. When I got punished the things I was doing were dangerous and the punishment wasn’t to be fear as much as disliked.
I have always disliked the look he gives me when I’ve disappointed my father. I picture my heavenly father much the same. I’m sure he’s given me that look many a times. But even in that stern I’m not happy with what you did look there is the kind and loving eyes of my father.
~Michelle
LikeLike
The phrase “fear the Lord,” “the fear of the Lord,” “fear God,” etc. occurs more than a hundred-fifty times throughout the Bible. The word in the Hebrew is יִרְאָה (yiŕāh). In the Greek the word is φόβος (fóbós), In a literal sense these words mean fear. When they are used in a moral sense (i.e. as in “fear the Lord”) they denote reverence. I tried to distinguish between fearing God and being afraid of God. “We do need to fear God but we don’t need to be afraid of God. Proverbs 1:7 says, “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge.” The fear we are supposed to have is a reverence, a respect, an acknowledgement of the holiness and greatness of God.”
You describe what I am getting at when you say, “I have never been afraid of my earthly father though I don’t look forward to when he is displeased with me I’ve never had reason to fear him.” When we are by faith living for God in trust and obedience we do not need to be afraid of Him. Love speaks to the desire to please. Fear speaks to the desire not to disappoint. But that idea is different than being afraid.
When David says in Psalms 34:9-14 (NIV) “Fear the LORD, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it,” the context makes it clear that fear is not meant in a terror sense, “like God is out to get me.” Remember, the most often repeated command in Scripture is “do not be afraid.”
LikeLike