Devotion

Devotion written by MZBC

A Healthy Fear Of The Lord
“For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to Him, He will not continue to turn His face from you.” --- 2 Chronicles 30:9b

Do you think you have a healthy fear of the Lord? This is a matter that believers and nonbelievers misunderstand, and its impact takes life away from our purpose in the earth. If you think about it, we live in a world and a time where being a believer is as ordinary as being a member of any host of organizations or clubs. We are an entity of people known by a book, a building, and two days of the week - the Holy Bible, the church, Sunday and Wednesday. Who we are, Whose we are, what we do, and why for Kingdom works! The entire world should be about this, but sadly, it is not. Why? Because the world has an unhealthy fear of God – meaning that it takes all that is of God as its own, and that it sees itself as sufficiently running the world on its own. From this comes a worldly stigma that disrupts our relational fellowship with God, and many of us go through the motions of religion. Our praise and worship, our prayers and petitions, our testimonies and service - all of it makes for worldly impressions that get crowded into a box the world has placed us in. However, in truthfulness it all belongs to King Jesus! An unhealthy fear of God is like a boy or girl who is afraid that a person will do them harm because they got into trouble, misbehaved, or may be disliked. An unhealthy fear makes you want to hide or run away. But praise be to God for the kind of fear that makes us thrive in our relationship with Him: a desire to know him, wanting what He wants, respect and honor for His majesty, faith, obedience, trust, stewardship, intimacy…these are essential qualities that make you want to run to God with everything about you and everything you have. We serve a phenomenal God, not an ordinary god. If you hold these things in your heart, your fear of the Lord is healthy.