Free to Fear God – The Law of Liberty (11)

Free to Fear God

The Law of Liberty (11)

Readers will gain a better perspective on the main teaching of this series by reading The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, then click Waxed Tablet, and scroll down until you see this little volume.

“Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law…” Deuteronomy 31:12

Unbelievers live constantly in the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). Why? A variety of reasons: they dread whatever pain may be associated with it; feel remorse at leaving friends and family behind; regret the loss of whatever fleeting happiness they have known in this life; and fear the unknown that lies beyond the grave. The fear of death is, in many ways, an unspoken fear of meeting God, unprepared. Most probably will not admit this; but because all men are made in the image of God and know Him through His works (Rom. 1:18-20), they can never completely escape the sense that one day they will stand before Him for judgment.

The fear of death influences men’s lives in many ways. They pursue a frenzied agenda to know as much comfort and pleasure as they can in this life. They euphemize death–“passing away,” “crossing over”–in order to mitigate its dread and consequences. They strive for eternal youth or, at least, the prolonging of their days on earth by whatever means possible. Their lives become, in many ways, a relentless hedging against and dodging of the “Grim Reaper.”

The believer does not shy away from the fear of God. Instead, he knows it to be his proper environment, since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge and the source of all God’s richest blessings. Thus, we fear God and love Him, at one and the same time–fear, because of Who He is and what He is capable of where wretched sinners such as we are concerned; love, because of what He has done in Jesus Christ for wretched sinners, and because, in His Law we are free to overcome the constraints of sin and to live in the righteousness of Christ.

So then, let us by all means nurture the fear of God, without fear, as it were. For, though we fear Him, we love Him Who has first loved us. And our love for Him, underscored by fear, drives us to His Law to find the path of true freedom He has marked out for all who will live with Him forever–without fear.

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7:12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.