Fear the Lord

This note is the start of many small moral studies from my own life experience. If no one learns anything from it, at least I did.


We just had a flat meeting here. I had lied to my flatmate a while ago about the reason I didn't buy milk for the flat in time. I said that I hadn't been eating cereal for a while and so I hadn't had much of a chance to check the milk was running low. I thought it was the reason when I said it, but just after I said it I realized it was a lie. My other flatmate told the accusing one that I had in fact been eating cereal and that was a lie. I should have admitted to my flatmate that I lied straight away, but I chose not to (and sinned).


MY FLATMATE WAS FURIOUS when he/she got up this one morning because they had told me to get more milk and I said I would... but I didn't. Luckily for me when my flatmate fell into a fit of rage that day stomping loudly all around my room for a long time trying to get me out of bed, he/she was going away on work. So I didn't get up. I felt I deserved all that stomping and loud music.

At our flat meeting tonight the flatmate brought the incident up, and I just sat and listened. They were getting really defensive as they explained how I lied to them, as if they thought I would deny it. Then something that pleased me, in a way, came out:

"... and you lied, and you're a Christian, so you're going to HELL!" Wow, I was a little surprised at that. Obviously my flatmate is not a Christian (although the other one is Catholic so he/she instantly argued back and said "you can't say that..." etc). I just sat there and shook my head. I had never had anyone use my religeon openly against me before. The reason I didn't take offense to it, and the reason it pleased me was because I think I knew it pleased God. Plus, I'm positive of my salvation, and so I didn't question it at all.

You might think "Why would this kind of speech please God?". The reason is because my flatmate showed a fear of God. They had no right to Judge whether I go to heaven or hell, because only God has that right. God will judge my flatmate in the same way that he/she judged me today (see Mat 7:1).

Obviously there is some kind of fear/threat here because the fact that he/she brought Christianity into the argument in the first place shows that they know at least some part of it is powerful and real.

Mat 10:28 (NIV) [Jesus] "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."

And to emphasise the point that it's God we should fear:

Isa 8:12-13 (NIV) "...Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread."

Ps 76:4,7 (NIV) "You [O God] are resplendent with light... You alone are to be feared."

Now check out why this is exciting:

Ps 111:10 (NEB) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they who live by it grow in understanding..."

Prov 9:10 (NEB) "The first step to wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."