Fear

very few people today are in fear of God. We always portray Him as kind, compassionate, and not going to hurt anyone or anything. We have no fear of God, even though we know His might and power. He could eliminate us without even raising a finger but we don't live in fear of Him. We think of him as a big teddy bear. Cute, kind, and soft. Is that how God really is? Or is that how we want him to be. In the book of Acts it is recorded that "31The church then had found peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in fear of the Lord." (Acts 9.31).

This topic is a common occurrence in the book of Acts. It is recanted in some way or other in Acts 2.5, 7.32, 9.31, 10.2, 10.4, 10.22, 10.35, 13.26, 13.50, 17.4, 17.17, and 19.17. In fact, God-fearing men, is one of the most common ways members of the early church referred to one another. Being God fearing was always a good thing. In Acts 9.31 fearing God strengthened the fellowship of believers. In Acts 10.34-36 Peter preaches that God "accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Being afraid of God was a good thing in the early church, and it made the believers strong. It gave them a will to go on. It gave them a reason to continue spreading the good news in the face of adversity because there was an all powerful being to fear if they didn't. The numbers of the Church "grew daily" all because they all feared God and therefore strove to do what was right.

So once again I ask you, has God changed, or have we changed. God is all powerful. He is mighty. He is something to be feared, and yet we don't. We don't spread his word because we are scared of what others will think. We don't live in fear of God and the growth of the Church has become stagnant. May be its time that we remembered just who our God is, and start living in fear of him again.

Now I'm not suggesting God is going to start randomly hurting people, because God is love, and He loves us dearly. But we have to remember that He is all powerful, and can do whatever He wants to, and just that fact should keep us in fear.