“Fear HIM!”

Few of us like the idea of any type of judgement, wherein our actions, our words, our performance, our appearance, even our motives are evaluated, scrutinized and may receive an unfavorable or undesirable response or verdict. We would much rather live our life under the banner of Planet Fitness, which markets its gyms as being “judgment free zones”.   Unfortunately, there is no such zone in this world.  As long as we live we will constantly face some level of scrutiny, of judgement by others, while we ourselves regularly pass judgement on others as well as on ourselves.

Judgment, in general, implies that there are certain standards which makes something acceptable or provides some level of reward or desirable outcome when met, and some type of penalty or undesirable outcome for violation of or failure to meet the standards, typically resulting in something we greatly value being denied or lost.

I would thus propose that it is the fear of an adverse judgement in the various realms of our lives that drives/motivates much if not most of how we live our lives in this world.  It begins in the home where children fear the discipline of their parents for disobedience to home rules and standards. In the healthiest of situations, it is the fear of displeasing their parents whom they love.  More likely though, it is the fear of the loss of freedom, privileges, allowance, comfort in their rumps, or in some instances, unfortunately, the loss of their parent’s love.

Each nation, society or community establishes laws/ordinances for the safety and flourishing of the populace, with prescribed sanctions/penalties including temporary or permanent exclusion from that society/community of those who violate those laws.  Each has some type of legal process to determine if these laws have been violated with an associated sanction or penalty when there is a judgement affirming the violation.  The prescribed penalties for those judged guilty/culpable for law violations in our nation range from fines, reparations (loss of income), and community service (loss of time), to temporary or permanent incarceration (loss of freedom), and in the most serious of violations, being condemned to death (loss of life in this world).

Additional losses may occur as a collateral consequence of being judged guilty of a criminal or civil crime including the loss of employment and the loss of social and family relationships.   Certain convictions can also result in limitations placed on our future involvement in society.

I would thus suggest that it is primarily the fear of such consequences noted above that make us “law abiding” citizens and keeps our society from plunging into chaos and anarchy.  Such fear is evident in us when a car with flashing red lights pulls up behind us while we are driving, or when we open an ominous piece of mail from the IRS that possibly informs us of an audit of our tax return.

Fear is also a factor in motivating good behavior and good grades in school, wherein not meeting certain standards can result in discipline by parents or teachers, loss of friends and loss of opportunity to attend college.  Fear drives our performance in the workplace where violation of workplace standards or poor job performance can result in our loss of employment and income needed to care for ourselves and our families.  Fear of getting cut from the team or losing the game motivates athletic performance. We fear judgment by our peers and loss of friendships as we strive to meet the subjective standards for acceptance and approval of those around us.  This is now expanded to social media where we fear that our posts on Facebook or Instagram will meet with disapproval, scorn and shaming, resulting in loss of self-esteem and the desired approval and praise of others.

We also have personal fears related to a loss of meaning and purpose for our lives, the loss of loved ones, and in our nation the loss of our freedoms, comfort and wealth.  We fear the loss of our health and the limitations such loss puts on our enjoyment of life, as well as fearing being victims of crime and natural disasters, with their related losses.

Preeminent in the hierarchy of human fears is the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15).  Henry Scott Holland in his sermon preached following the death of King Henry VII in 1910 called death the “King of Terrors”.  And this fear, this terror, is not just related to the cessation of our life in this world, although that in itself appears to be a fearful process (I can only speak from observation).  It is ultimately the fear of the condemnation that will follow as we will all each stand before the Holy God who created us (Hebrews 9:7), knowing in the depth of our soul that we have violated His purposes and standards and deserve His just condemnation (Romans 1:28-32), that will have its consummation in what is referred to in Revelation 20:11-14 as the “lake of fire”.  At that moment we lose forever the glorious life with God for which we were created.

There is only one way to truly overcome our fear of death, and have the glorious life with God for which we were created restored, and that way is to fear (stand in awe and wonder, admiration and adoration of) Him who has the power and authority to kill our bodies and cast us into Hell (Luke 12:3-5); Him who defeated the one who through his lies and deceits brought fear and condemnation to the whole world (1 John 5:19) (Revelation 12:9-10); Him who out of love and at great cost to Himself (Ephesians 5:2), demonstrates His perfect love by taking upon Himself the condemnation, the just wages for sin we deserve (1 Peter 2:24), after perfectly meeting, on our behalf the standards of righteousness God requires (2 Corinthians 5:21), so that we could be declared righteous and set free from all that has caused us to fear death (1 John 4:18); not only no longer fearing (physical) death, but now looking forward to it (Philippians 1:21-23), knowing on the basis of His word (John 5:24-25) I will not see (the second) death, but at the moment of my physical death see Him (1 John 3:2), and from that moment on be delivered from all my fears (Psalm 34:4), knowing only fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

I began this post by stating that there are no judgment free zones in this world.  I will close it by stating that there is something far superior, namely a condemnation free zone (Romans 8:1), a zone that we enter into when we repent of our sin and by faith join our lives in thanksgiving, praise and obedience to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20).

Grace and Peace ×