Inside Out: A 40 Day Journey to Transforming Your HeartSample

Healthy Fear 

Is there such thing as healthy fear? Most certainly. Fear is an automatic and realistic response to a perceived danger. When we are camping and hear growling around the camp, it is healthy to fear there might be a bear near the tent. When we go to the doctor and learn that our heart is unhealthy because our waistline is too large, we can gain a healthy fear that motivates us to eat better, exercise more, and lose weight. 

Healthy fears are innately in us so that we can be protected. God’s greatest desire is to protect us from destruction and, ultimately, eternal death separated from Him. For us to experience His protection, we must fear Him.  Proverbs 19:23 says, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.” Unfortunately, we live in a culture where it is practically unheard of for people to fear authority. We are encouraged to question authority instead of trusting they have our best interests in mind. With God, we don’t need to question. He’s displayed His steadfast love by having Jesus die for us. He’s demonstrated His faithfulness by graciously forgiving us when we ask. Sadly, knowing we are loved and forgiven by God isn’t always enough for us to obey Him. 

We will start to honor, revere, respect, and appropriately fear Him when we remember that He is a holy, righteous God that cannot tolerate sin; when we recognize that every sin deserves death and separation from Him; and when we understand that we are only good because He helps us to be good.  Proverbs 16:6 says, “By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.” He is a just God, and we should never forget how much He abhors sin and the wickedness that is still deep in our hearts. Psalm 36:1 says, “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Do we understand the “fear of the Lord” in such a way that we are motivated to obey? 

Without a healthy fear of God, we will do what is right in our own eyes, not what God asks us to do. A healthy fear leads us to joyful obedience.  Deuteronomy 5:29 says, “Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!” When we fear God, we find wisdom, hate evil, and obey His commands, leading to a joy-filled, satisfying, long life. We will experience safety from sin and its inevitable consequences. Our healthy fear of God will keep us humble, teachable, and growing in our desire to become more like Jesus in our holiness. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says: “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” Fearing God is connected to pursuing holiness to its completion.

Fear leads us to either action or inaction.  God wants us to fear Him, not so that we freeze up in terror, overwhelmed that any decision we make may be the wrong one, but so that we fear Him in a way that causes us to want to submit to His commands and obey.  There is peace in front of a holy God when we know we are walking in His ways. Fearing God means having such a reverence for Him that it has a significant impact on the way we live our lives. We respect Him, obey Him, submit to His discipline, and worship Him in awe.

Everyone is to fear God, but the fear of God means something different for non-believers than believers. If we are not followers of Jesus and have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we must fear God’s eternal punishment to pay for our sins. The non-believer will experience the wrath of God.  The believer does not need to fear God’s wrath because it was placed on Jesus on the cross. We are under the grace of God, yet we are still called to fear God so that we continue to walk in His ways when our flesh is enticing us to do otherwise. Fearing God is crucial if we want to purge sin from our lives and transform from the inside out. 

Take a Moment:

• How can fearing the Lord lead you to obedience? What are the consequences if we don’t fear the Lord? 

• What areas of your life do you need to fear the Lord in more? 

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, You are holy and just. I do not deserve Your grace and mercy. I deserve Your wrath and judgment. Thank You that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, I do not need to fear Your wrath.  Lord, help me have a healthy fear of You to obey You and not my flesh. Help me transform from the inside out by understanding that fearing You leads to wisdom, obedience, peace, and joy. Amen.