THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM

A prevalent theme, a lack of spiritual balance in the church world today, is a strong contributing factor in the moral struggles and failures of saints: We simply do not fear God! The revelation of God's great grace and love has permeated the church, and rightly so, but without the counterbalance of fear, reflecting His holiness and justice as the Righteous Judge of All, we are like a kite without a tail, flirting with the updrafts of love and grace while doomed to a presumptuous noise-dive sooner or later. Without a healthy dose of fear of the one who "holds our breath in His hands" our carnal nature predisposes us to a presumption of grace. Grace does give diplomatic immunity: “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” The grace of God has been given in greater measure than needed and will always be “more than enough” for sinner’s with a repentant heart.  This in no way implies we should flagrantly sin and presume upon God’s grace. The phrase “God forbid” used in Rom. 6:2 is the strongest Greek idiom for repudiating a statement, and does not indicate when or how He forbids.  We don’t know when we have gone too far, when we have crossed the line where God’s grace and mercy are no longer available.  Many, no doubt, view the moral failures in God's body as a lack of love or true commitment to God, which may be true in some cases, but we shouldn't be blinded by the obvious. There are many pastors and Christian leaders who dearly love God and yet have yielded to moral failure, setting a precedence for the sheep to emulate. What else, but deep seated presumption, would allow a saint to yield to moral temptation before the all seeing eye of an ever present God? Jim Baker, from his prison cell, stated he never quit loving or believing in God, but he did not fear God. Our view of God is the single most influential and important thing driving our Christian life. Holy fear of God is essential to a balanced view of God's true nature in His relationship with man. TO FEAR GOD IS TO BELIEVE GOD, AND TO BELIEVE GOD IS TO OBEY HIM.    The fear of God and obedience go hand in glove, those who fear obey, period. The progression of Heb. 6:1-8 and the associated passage in Heb. 10:26-31, and the word choices in Heb.12:5, "chastens", "scourges" and "rebukes", are indicative of a side of God's nature we need to recognize and respect. There are approximately 134 scriptures dealing with the fear of God. The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is to understand this truth, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10). . Fear of the Lord is a way of escape, a divine provisioning, enabling us to overcome temptation.  When we don't fear God we are a tailless kite, floating on the winds of presumptive grace, and we all know what happens to a kite without a tail.