I was a men’s group leader for a
large group of guys in Pennsylvania and we always did things with wood, whether
it was cutting logs for firewood and then chopping them up. One time, the young
group of guys got all excited because they found a bunch of pine trees that
were freshly cut laying on the side of the road for free and they filled their
pickup full of these giant logs. Quite literally, some of them were the size of
a loveseat. It was kind of a strong man thing. But we had this fire pit that
was smaller and so we had to cut these logs the size of loveseats up and then
chop them. We had crazy bonfires… I had my chainsaw and one of them borrowed
their brother’s chainsaw, you know how that goes, and I let some of the guys
run mine. One could easily tell the guys who have run them before from those
who haven’t. The ones who have run them, would actually cut the logs efficiently.
The ones who haven’t, would cut the logs with terrified and timid motions,
unproductively and inefficiently. They knew that there was a sharp chain
revolving around the bar at several hundred RPMs, so they stayed away from it
as much as possible. They didn’t want to admit that they never ran a chainsaw,
but you could tell that they were very uncomfortable handling one, let alone
cutting logs.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” –Proverbs 1:7
What a fitting verse for the
beginning of the book of Proverbs. A book which seeks to bring wisdom to its
readers. What does it mean to fear the Lord? Why would we fear such a loving
and good God? How does it even make sense that we should fear God?
Because God is the one who created
us, He is the one who can destroy us as well. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Ouch… Why would
we put our trust and hope in such a being? Because God is good.
We forget that God is who He is (Exodus 3:14), and that we
are not God. We become so desensitized about our relationship with God and we
lose our reverence for Him. Desensitization won’t happen overnight, but we get
more and more comfortable with His mercy and grace that we eventually take it
for granted. This is something that, as Christians, we simply need to continue
to wake up and smell the coffee again and again.
When my wife had her close friend
over from a different state, they were planning to go on a hike, and I
suggested that they take some protection (We now live in the Rocky Mountains). I
grew up around guns, my dad is a master gunsmith and I learned a lot about guns
from him and I am very comfortable around them. My wife, on the other hand grew
up in what my fellow villagers and I would call a city. When it came to hiking
time, her and her friends seemed hesitant to take protection. I said things
like, “Well, you might regret not taking protection if a bear is chewing on
your foot.” Or, “If a mountain lion etc., etc.” I won’t go into detail. But
then they were afraid to go on a hike. I told them that now they were ready.
There is a method to my madness… “You have a realistic picture of what could
happen, and you will be more alert while hiking. You’ll be more awake.” We must
have a healthy fear.
Fear is, despite what people tell
you today, a friend we should keep close to us. Fear keeps us alive. I don’t
mean that we should live in an unhealthy fear, this is why there is a qualifier
of health. It must be healthy fear. I coined this phrase because I recognized that much fear is
unhealthy, if not completely irrational. We do not let fear rule our lives, but
we do not want to be oblivious.
I once saw a billboard for an
insurance company that said, “Live fearless” (not fearlessly). It showed a
person jumping out of an airplane and a smile on his face. This, I think kind
of goes in the wrong direction a bit. Should we just carelessly do whatever we
want because we have good health insurance? No, because accidents, the last
time I checked, still involve pain and death. “But you’re covered!” You get the
idea, I am just using this for clarity.
It is just like the chainsaw. A
person who has never handled a chainsaw would never go ripping and tearing
through the woods, full throttle, knowing the danger ahead of them. They would
have a healthy fear of the chainsaw and the trees, and they would proceed with
great caution. We have a natural healthy fear of these kinds of things, so why
do we lose our healthy fear of God?
In every area of our lives, we
continually live like this. When someone learns that they have diabetes from
their doctor, or high blood pressure, our first reaction is fear. Our diets
immediately change, even if it is only for a week. We do this out of having a
healthy fear. So why would we not continue to fear God? The one thing that we
should realistically revere. Fearing God means that we should fear what He does
to evil. We should fear His wrath. This is something that we should never be
comfortable with, even as Christians.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians
3:11-15, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid,
which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver,
costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is,
because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the
fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built
survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be
saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames” (emphasis mine).
This is something that should keep us on the right track. We should remain aware
of what we are doing with our lives. Are we building on the true foundation? If
we do not build on the true foundation, whether we use costly materials or
garbage, it will be burned up. Then we will realize that all that we have done
in our lives, all the work we pour into what we have built will be for nothing.
We will suffer because all of the years we poured our lives into our passions,
if it was not built on the foundation, it will be as if it never happened. This
should cause us to have a healthy fear of what we are doing with, and through,
our lives.
“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.”
--Ecclesiastes 12:13
Written by Nace Howell through the
grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2018
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