Am I to Love God or Fear God?

One of the most famous Bible verses in the world has to be John 3:16. Sports fans enthusiastically wave posters that display John 3:16. People put John 3:16 bumper stickers on their rides. It's a very popular verse that many people can quote by heart, probably from the King James Version of the Bible. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

We're only four words into the verse and we run into the "L" word. "For God so loved..." It's hard to think about JAH without thinking about love because JAH is love. God loves us. The Word clearly states that God loves the world. If God loves the world, that means God loves all the people groups of the world. The love of God is not reserved just for a particular race or nation. The love of God is individual, racial, interracial, national, international, global, universal and intergalactic all rolled up into one!

So one of the first things we learn about God is that God is Love. But we sometimes tend to think that that is all God is. Just Love. Yes God is love, but God is not just love. JAH is so much more than love. As a matter of fact, nobody you know is just one thing. Your cousin Jimmy is kind, but he's not just kind. People are complex and multifaceted. JAH, all the more.

God is Righteous, God is Just, God is Holy, God is Jealous, God is a consuming fire. "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." Exodus 34:14. "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24. And consider Hebrews 12:28b-29, "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."

My father was a big man, 6'5", 240 pounds. When I was growing up, we had a thriving family business and there was always plenty to do. If my dad told me to wash the cars or cut the grass or rake the yard or make a delivery or whatever, I knew he expected me to do it. I also knew that if I didn't do what I was told, there would be consequences. Sometimes, painful, embarrassing consequences.

So I think it's fair to say that as a kid I feared my dad. I didn't love him as much as I feared him. Dad could be loving, but dad could also be a consuming fire. And it wasn't until I was an adult, raising a family of my own, that I came to appreciate and love my dad. I had to grow older and wiser to understand the reason he would deliver the "fiery consequences of disobedience" when necessary. I love him for that! Hebrews 12:5-11 speaks to the love and the chastening of our human father and our heavenly Father.

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." Proverbs 16:6. But also consider Psalm 97:10, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." It's the same difference! Because of my fear of the Lord, I hate evil. And because of my love of the Lord, I hate evil. It's the same outcome! I fear JAH therefore, I hate evil. I love JAH, therefore I hate evil. It's two sides of the same coin.

In the Old Testament, we see, "Fear God, and keep his commandments," Ecclesiastes 12:13. In the New Testament, Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments," John 14:15. Again, same difference. Or two sides of the same coin. But is fear JAH an Old Testament concept and is love God a New Testament concept? I think not. Why not? Because in the New Testament, 1 Peter 2:17, we find, "Fear God." And because of Deuteronomy 10: 12, where we see the concept of Fear God and the concept of Love God in the same verse. "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul."

So in conclusion, do we love God or fear God? I think He requires both.