God-fearing
God is love. So why should anyone fear love?
'Fear God' and 'God-fearing people' are very common English terms, but what does it mean? A question that frequently pops up: If God is love, why should we fear Him?
This page attempts to explain the meaning of 'God-fearing'.
God-fearing
God loves and He doesn't want us to be afraid. And if you live right, there's no need to fear anything.
It's like if you drive a car within the speed limit, there's no fear of getting caught for speeding. (Of course, some people drive too fast and have no fear. We call these sort of people 'fools'.)
Here are a few different definitions of 'God-fearing' that people might come up with:
'Fear', when talking about God, is synonymous with 'respect', 'reverence', 'piety', 'awe toward a supreme power', etc
Well, that may be so. But I think there's probably more to it than that.
'God-fearing' is an archaic term that's been bouncing around for so many years that we're not too sure of the original meaning. Similar to terms like 'God-parents' and 'God speed' (or is it 'God's speed'?).
It's a bit like saying "Sorry, I'm afraid I forgotten your name." Hmmm... Under what circumstances should that instill any fear? (It's when you forget your own name that you should be afraid.)
Nope! I'm afraid it's not as simple as that either.
A clue to the meaning of 'God-fearing' is to consider that we never say 'Christ fearing'. And this is because, whilst we regard Christ as the Saviour of mankind, through His sacrifice, we regard God the Father as the almighty, all powerful God. And it is irrational not to fear the wrath of anyone as powerful as that.
A Biblical reference is found in Exodus 20:20, which says that fearing God keeps us from sinning. Logic tells us that God cannot love evil, because evil is the opposite of love. God loves, but He doesn't love everything. God loves the sinner, but not the sin, and He gets pretty peeved when we sin. If we die as a sinner, we go to Hell, and I reckon that's where most souls go. Hell, whatever that is, and God's anger, sound like things to REALLY fear!
Fortunately there’s a simple way out of this.
Because God is love, He's a forgiving God. It's like if you cheat on your partner, you say you're sorry and you really mean it, and you promise never to do it again. Then, if you're lucky, your partner will forgive you.
It's like that with God, but you're always lucky in that if you ask, with sincerity from your heart, He always forgives and then you are safe.
All pretty simple really.
Paradoxically, if you truly fear God then you have nothing to fear.
