Fear and Love

By Mass Dogg

A woman recently asked me, after reviewing our information, "So… is God loving, or do you FEAR God?" My reply was, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...” (Proverbs 9:10). The question is, what does love mean to you? Love in its truest sense will give to someone or something, without expecting anything in return, because love is what drives a person to do things, not selfishness.  I heard a saying once that love gives and lust takes.  1 John 3:18 states, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth".  Love is what compels me to do the things I do, but also causes me to obey God through Christ.  The fear of God according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines as such:

“A holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience.”

Fear and love work hand in hand, and that is what is meant by, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." Don’t ever separate the two, because fear can also be taken in an emotional sense, and the Lord states, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).  It doesn’t say, "God is an emotion", but He is Spirit; which means it’s not a feeling, but it is truth.  Stick to principle and what is right, and He will keep revealing the path to you. Amen.