Mark,
You know, we see those stickers on all these kids baaad Mustangs now, saying "Fear this". In that sense is not where I see fear of God. I think it means so much more. On the one hand: listen to this from the Hebrew letter. speaking to those who were and still should be living with confidence in their faith.
Hebrews 10:
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.
33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.
34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
On the other hand is the reverence:
Acts 10:
34 Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
I do not have a problem with having real and sincere reverence for the Creator, and I think that one who does may have a pride problem. Then there is another side of this:
1 John 4:
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
He loves us because we love Him? NO quite the opposite. He already LOVED us. SO MUCH SO He sent His Son to die. (John 3:16) And IMO my love for Him because of what He has already done includes my thought that it is His will I not perish.
I know, I know you can say here,"Yeah but given He is God He could save eveyone if he really loved....etc.etc.etc. Mark he loves So much he has given you free will. Not to make a robot of you. Any robot will follow given data. You have the ability to see what He has done and accept it ,or not.
Anyone can help here. I am not a good teacher and do not make myself clear too pretty good.
dan
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