The Fear of God

Starting before bed last night & then finishing up this morning, I read Leviticus 3, 4, & 5. These passages have left me much to think about as I go about my day today.

In listening to others preach, sometimes it seems as though we worship two Gods. There's the God who is kind, forgiving, loving, and merciful. And then there is the God whose wrath we fear, who will throw us into the pits of Hell for not following His word. In thinking on that a bit more, I suppose it could be seen as the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament (respectively).

Today, I will be pondering that seemingly split-personality that is sometimes represented and how to make sure that in my kids' lives, He is known as one whole God who is at once loving yet just, kind yet demanding, forgiving yet abhorrent of sin, and merciful yet angry at our disobedience.

The Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai had tangibly clear consequences for their sins. They knew that when they sinned they would have to sacrifice something dear to them in order to restore their relationship with God. While I'm joyous for our Savior, thankful for His sacrifice, and humbled by His love ... I can't help but wonder how the consequences of the Old Testament may have motivated the people to obey.

In today's world, when we sin, it is comforting to hear the familiar phrase "You're human; we all sin. Don't worry, Jesus washed our sins away." Unfortunately, it also makes it easy to think that we can be less vigilant in our fight against sin. It may even lead us to think that we can go on and do something sinful "just this once" because we are forgiven anyway. I think that if we don't keep the fear of God in our hearts along with the message of His forgiveness, then we are condemning ourselves further to our sinful nature.

So my thought for today is.... How do we instill in our children (and ourselves, for that matter) a healthy fear of God without scaring the daylights out of them? How do we help them understand that, yes, we are forgiven, but that doesn't give us license to sin? How do we make sure they grow up being accountable for their sins rather than just shrugging off their misdeeds with a flippant "God forgives"?