Motivated by godly fear

Mat 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Last night I was watching Way of the Master on television and Ray Comfort presented the viewer with a challenge I had heard before, but since forgotten about.

He said that if someone offered you $1000 for each person you shared the gospel with, could you overcome your "fear of man" more easily? Most people answered yes. If you are honest with yourself, you would probably have to conclude the same thing. Comfort's conclusion was that people could overcome fear of man for love of money, but not out of their love for God and love for their neighbour.

This got me thinking about the verse above...We are failing to be motvated by our love for God, but also showing a lack of belief through our lack of fear.

You see, if we were truly conscious of that which we theologically assent to, our fear of a terrible and holy God who is wrathful towards unrighteousness should always cancel out the fear of a mortal, limited and relatively impotent man facing us.

It is the same with hell. If we had any real concept of hell, or moreover the lake of fire, it would motivate us into action far more often than is presently so.

I believe this is the symptom of a naturalistic mindset. We see the man in front of us and are intimidated, we forget how mighty God is because we have our eyes fixed upon the natural.

Likewise with hell. Human circumstance and natural consequence block out consideration of supernatural judgement. It ought to be the other way around!!!

The concept of holy and godly fear is frequently neglected and logically so from the perspective of darkness, for it creates a horrible kind of condition where one takes being at peace with God for granted and as a result takes no appropriate action.

One of my favourite worship songs contains the verse
"O Lord, please light the fire
that once burned bright and clear
Replace the lamp of my first love
That burns with holy fear"

We need the fear of the Lord to be a major point of focus for our life and actions. It isn't popular, easy or comfortable, but it is most necessary.

Man has the power to take your life, God has the power over your eternal existance. We need a reality check.