FEAR THE BIBLE?

Monday, June 07, 2010

Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
II Timothy 3:16-17 NET

Should we fear the Bible? Not in the usual sense people would think of fear. But there is something I find interesting. There is a trend toward preaching or teaching love and not fear. What does this mean? We want people to be motivated by the love of God and not fearing God, and there is a sense where that is true. The most important source for understanding the difference, however, has to be the Bible itself. After all, it is God’s word. Anything we know about God or Jesus, truthfully, is in the Bible.

The Bible certainly speaks of the supreme importance of love. We have the famous love chapter, I Corinthians 13, telling us what love is, how kind it is, and without it we are nothing. We know of the love of God in John 3:16 where God gave up Jesus to die for us, even while we were God’s enemies. God is love, the Bible teaches, and Jesus came to show us God’s love, He commands us to love one another, and the Apostles exhort us to increase in love for other believers. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. But here is the intriguing part. When the reference above speaks to the importance of all of the Bible being beneficial, nothing is said about love specifically. Why do you suppose?

It all comes down to defining love. God is love, but God will discipline his children for their purity. Jesus revealed love, but Jesus sure knew how to rebuke certain religious people, even the disciples. The Bible teaches that love is to be without hypocrisy, hating what is evil and clinging to what is good. We read poetically and beautifully in the Bible that lovingkindness and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. So, it becomes obvious that true love, godly love, will be bound to doing the right thing at every turn. If we love our children we want to keep them out of harms way by telling them the difference between right and wrong. God loves us in a similar and yet much more profound way. He wants us to share His glory.

Christian love today, sadly, is often communicated as what makes me feel good, or what can meet my felt needs or what others say my needs are, even if they may not be true needs from God’s vantage point. This takes us to the above reference again. The Word of Love is telling us that the most useful thing for us is the Scripture, every scripture as it is taught accurately. If a person wants to know love without wanting to know right from wrong, there is a big problem. So this means that the fear of the Lord is called for. The warnings of the Lord and the admonitions of the Lord are called for. The Bible clearly teaches, as in the book of Proverbs, wisdom literature, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the continuance of wisdom. After all, we live in a dangerous world. Deceitful spirits and false or unbalanced teachings abound. Many will teach lies in the name of love, but it is a false love. Perhaps they just want you around them so they can boast in your presence with them.

The teaching you are receiving; is it moving you toward increased fruits of the Spirit, including righteous decisions, in your life? Or is it leaving you with a fleeting feeling (and all feelings are fleeting) of love that really does not move you toward a pure conscience and deeds of love for others, especially sharing the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection with them so they can be saved and know God’s forgiveness and love and the gift of eternal life, too!? Righteous walking and talking and unconditional love, biblically speaking, are inseparable.

One other thing. We will be judged by the words of Jesus, too. He loves us enough to say so.