The Role of Fear in Strengthening Faith

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10

What would your life look like if it were entirely free from fear?

No dread of failure, no anxiety about the economy or your health, no fear of disappointing others and no fear of judgment, sin, or death. Can you imagine a morning where you’re not ruled by your worries, where your guilt has fled like a shadow before the rising sun?

It sounds like a fantasy too good to be true. But this kind of fearless confidence doesn’t come from ignoring fear. Paradoxically, it comes from fearing rightly. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “That is the first commandment, the entire gospel: ‘Fear God’ instead of the many things which you fear.”

This kind of fear is not cowardice. It’s not hiding from God or trembling like a dog that’s been hit too many times. It’s the only kind of fear that leads to freedom the fear of the God who is love.

A Fear That Refines Our Faith

Modern culture tells us love and fear can’t coexist. If you love someone, you’re not afraid of them. If you fear someone, you can’t truly love them. But this is where our understanding falters because God is not like us.

We don't define God by our ideas of love. We define love by who God is.

And God, in the pages of Scripture, is not always “safe” by our standards. He casts Adam out of Eden. He bars Moses’ generation from the Promised Land. He sends floods, consumes offerings with fire, and calls His own followers to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

This is the same God who came to live among us. The same Jesus who flipped tables in the temple, rebuked Peter as “Satan,” and said things that emptied the crowd.

Yet this is also the God who healed the sick, wept at funerals, welcomed children, and died in our place. He is love. And He is fearsome.

To fear this God is not to run from Him, but to rightly tremble in awe to recognize that His love is not mild or manageable. His love is not weak. His love is a wildfire that consumes pride and purifies souls. His love is the most dangerous, beautiful force in the universe.

Love That Cannot Be Controlled

God is not on your program. He’s not a cosmic therapist or a heavenly butler. He is not impressed by your plans or moved by your preferences. He is God. And He has made up His mind to love you not on your terms, but His.

This is the best possible news.

Because if God’s love were based on your performance, it would be as shaky as your worst day. But His love is grounded in His own unchanging character. It is stubborn. It is sovereign. And it is always working for your eternal good even when it doesn’t look or feel that way.

As Bonhoeffer said, to fear God is the first step of the gospel. It’s the beginning of life. Not because we fear what He’ll do to us, but because we realize only He has life to give.

Like Peter, when Jesus asked if he too would leave, we must answer, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

The Freedom of Holy Fear

The irony of the Christian life is that only those who fear God rightly can ever be truly free of fear.

1 John 4:18 declares, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” This doesn’t mean we no longer reverence God. It means that once we believe He is irrevocably, relentlessly, stubbornly for us, we stop fearing what He might do to us.

We stop tiptoeing around His grace. We stop wondering if He’s going to change His mind. We stop hiding when we sin, because we know His love is stronger than our worst.

The fear of the Lord becomes the anchor of our confidence.

• We no longer fear judgment, because Christ bore it all.

• We no longer fear failure, because grace is greater still.

• We no longer fear rejection, because we’ve been adopted as sons and daughters.

This kind of confidence isn’t arrogance. It’s awe. It’s humility. It’s standing before a God whose power could undo us and knowing He has chosen instead to remake us.

One Holy Fear

You will fear something. That’s guaranteed.

You’ll fear being alone. You’ll fear being unloved. You’ll fear dying, or being wrong, or failing. But the gospel offers a better fear one that doesn’t enslave, but saves.

Jesus says, “Do not fear those who kill the body… Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). But then He continues, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).

The same God who holds the power to judge also holds you and has promised never to let you go.

So let us fear Him not with terror, but with trembling joy. Let us be awed by a love that burns away all lesser fears. And let us rest in the confidence that comes only from knowing: God has made up His mind to love us.

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