GOD-FEARING – OR FEARFUL?
How must I fear GOD and what does a God-fearing life mean?
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me and said that she listened to a sermon where the preacher said that people have lost the fear of the Lord. In other words, that people no longer live God-fearing lives.
I will now, to the best of my ability, explain as I understand and try to live it out, also to you who are reading this.
Let me then ask the question this way:
What does it mean if a child of God lives a God-fearing life?
Well, it certainly does not mean that you must now live with the kind of fear of God that makes you anxious and afraid.
That anxious, fearful kind of fear toward God is only experienced by someone who does not have a love relationship with Jesus. Yes, you will only experience that kind of fearful dread of God if you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Savior and Redeemer—and that fearful dread of God, thinking He is only waiting for me to take one wrong step so that He can punish me, will be experienced to the fullest degree if I arrive on the other side of the grave without Jesus.
To understand the God-fearing way of life is actually childlike in its simplicity—just as the whole gospel of Jesus Christ is childishly simple to understand.
Let me explain:
We are our Lord’s children. Well, how do you look at your parents? You look at them with love full of reverence, respect, and awe.
That is how I look at our Lord:
With loving, God-fearing reverence.
With loving, God-fearing respect.
With loving, God-fearing awe.
Because He, the Almighty God of heaven and earth, is my Father and my Friend.
With this God-fearing love full of reverence, respect, and awe, I honor Him above everyone and everything.
With this God-fearing love full of reverence, respect, and awe, I remember that He, my loving Creator, sustains the entire universe, and that there is no chaos in creation except where man causes it or does not understand it.
With this God-fearing love full of reverence, respect, and awe, I try to the best of my ability to live as He shows me in His Word, the way He desires that I should live.
Listen carefully to these words:
You and I are created in the image of God. One of the characteristics of God that we have—because we are created in His image—is our own free will. And with this free will, I choose to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, OR I decide not to do it. And the decision I make, will determine where I will spend eternity – either eternal life in Heaven —or eternal dreadful death in Hell – and yet not die. For that is another characteristic of God that you and I have, because we are created in His image: we are immortal.
At some point we are going to leave our bodies here on earth and move into one of two places where we will either live forever, OR suffer the most dreadful eternal death and yet never die.
I also remember that not to choose Jesus is to choose not to be a follower of Jesus. In other words, to choose not to accept Him as my Savior and Redeemer.
Jesus says:
Luke 11:23
He who is not with Me [believing in Me as Lord and Savior] is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me [engaged in My mission], scatters.
Many people know about Jesus because they have heard of Him somewhere. But there are also people who know about me—even you who are reading this now. Yet just knowing about Jesus is not the same as having a love relationship with Him.
John 8:42
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God [not on My own initiative], and I have come here. For I have not even come on My own initiative, but He [is the One who] sent Me.”
John 14:23
Jesus answered, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teachings); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.”
Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
Do you have certainty about what I have just asked you?
If you do not know, or are even unsure, then you have not.
I was married for 37 years to my wife who is now with Jesus, and I never for one moment doubted whether I had asked her to marry me.
If you have truly accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will know that you have.
Well, today, if you have not had that certainty, you can now have it—and then not live in fear of God, but instead begin to live in a God-fearing way, in a relationship of reverence, respect, and awe. A relationship that in love, first from our Lord’s side and also from your side, will grow and grow and grow.
Right here, where you are reading now, you can in all sincerity say deep in your heart to Jesus:
“Lord, I know that I am not truly Your child yet, but I want to make sure right now that I belong to You.
I confess that I have lived a sinful life far from You—but now I come to You, I turn my back on the wrong life I have lived, and I ask You, Lord, help me from this point forward, and help my faith which is still very small. Thank You that I now know I am Your child, a disciple of Jesus Christ.”
Listen to what our Lord says in His Word if you have done this:
John 1:12
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
John 1:13
who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].
Now, as a matter of great urgency, seek out a congregation that accepts the whole Bible as the infallible Word of our Lord and attend one of their services.
Make contact with the pastor of that congregation, tell him what you have done, and ask him for further guidance.
Also contact me again if you wish, and I and my co-worker in Christ will pray for you, that you may receive wonderful guidance.
If you cannot find such a congregation, contact me as well and we will from our side try to help you to connect with such a congregation.
Read also the following, and receive great peace about your past:
Romans 8:1
Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior].
Sakkie