A Word from the Word: Fear Him!
A Word From The Word: Fear
Have you ever wondered why scripture tells us to fear God (For example, Ephesians 5:21)? Especially when it also says we are to love Him, and He loves us, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)?
The Greek word translated fear in these passages is phobos, from which we get phobia. The word did mean fear. It could also mean terror, respect, awe, or reverence. All of these are responses to encountering something that is so beyond us we don’t know how to respond. Personally, I like the word awe—except that we have poisoned the word.
Not long ago I was eating at a restaurant. I ordered a hamburger, which was actually pretty good. But the waitress came by and asked how the food was. I said it was pretty good, but my friend said “Awesome”! Awe means an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, etc. (which can arouse fear in us since it is overwhelming). The hamburger was good. Maybe it was even really good. But it did NOT inspire an overwhelming feeling of admiration or reverence in either me or my friend.
Hamburgers are not awesome! But God is.
When we encounter Him, whether in circumstances, in worship, through His Body, in scripture or in some other way, we can be overwhelmed with reverence. The hit song “I Can Only Imagine” posits that we can only imagine the different responses we may have when we finally encounter Jesus face to face physically. But I believe I know how I will respond—and how you will. When we realize who this is—the creator of all things who took the form of flesh to live and die for us—we will hit the dirt at His feet. Not in terror, but because He IS overwhelming and we will have such strong reverence and awe for Him that this would only be natural (I believe He will have to pick me up to get me out of that, but when He does, I’ll probably find a way to stand).
Reverence, extraordinary respect, awe—these are the experiences that go with an encounter with the King. Not “He’s my buddy” or “We’re homies” (I’ve heard both phrases recently). I understand the sentiment of these phrases—Jesus Himself said we would be considered friends. But that is from His perspective. From our perspective, we will be blown away at His glory, strength, love and faithfulness!
We will live in reverence and awe of Him—and if that inspires some feeling of fear in the sense that we are overwhelmed, maybe that’s ok too. His love will destroy any negative aspect of that fear, but the reverence will remain, and that is good. Jesus isn’t just one of us. He is God who became one of us. And He Is Awesome!
If you have encountered the King, you know what I mean. If you can ‘t relate to what I’ve written—if you have never experienced the awe of Jesus—I encourage you to talk to the leaders of your church and explore the nature of your relationship with Him.
Know Jesus and Be Faithful!
