Two Kinds Of Fear Only One Helps

The Bible tells you not to be afraid, and then it tells you to fear God. If you have ever felt stuck between those two, you are reading it right. There are two different things being described.

1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." Torment is the giveaway. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." So the dread that makes you avoid God is not coming from God.

Jesus was not contradicting that in Luke 12:5 when He said, "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." He was pointing at who actually holds everything. That is not terror, that is weight.

Hebrews 12:28 says we should "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Reverence pulls you closer, dread pushes you away. If you already belong to Christ, what keeps you from sin is not the threat of punishment. It is how good He has been to you and how little sense it makes to walk away from that.

Here is how you tell which one is running your day. When you mess up, do you go quiet on God for three days, or do you go straight to Him? Avoiding Him is the tormenting kind and it is built on a lie about His heart. Running to Him is reverence, because you know what He is actually like. The Holy Spirit inside you is not embarrassed by you, so let Him show you the goodness of God before you start trying to clean yourself up.

Fear that makes you hide is not from Him. Awe that makes you honour Him is. One kills the relationship, the other is where the life is.