“So,” says a friendly inquirer, “if I follow Jesus, what will this mean?” “Ah, well, it means you will begin to fear God.” It doesn’t seem like a great evangelistic line, does it? With books like Frank Furedi’s Culture of Fear and How Fear Works,1 and Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation,2 we are used to thinking about all-pervasive fear as a fearful (!) mark of our societies. A lot of fear is swirling around in the air. “So,” says our inquirer, “if following Jesus involves fear, I am not sure I want that.”
“Besides,” says the Christian who knows his Bible a bit, “doesn’t the Bible say that ‘perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18)? Doesn’t God often tell people in the Old Testament not to fear? And doesn’t Jesus frequently tell his disciples not to fear?” For example, when the disciples see Jesus walking on the water, “they were terrified . . . and they cried out in fear.” And what does Jesus say? “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:26–27).
But when we read a bit further, we find that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10). Paul persuades people of the gospel because he knows “the fear of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:11). And Mary sings that God’s “mercy is for those who fear him” (Luke 1:50).
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