“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”
- Albert Einstein
The other day I met a dreadlocked brother on the Jesus Army campaign by the Birmingham Town Hall. He asked me a question on what I thought about not believing in Jesus and its ties with eternal punishment. He himself was searching for the truth, but the question was birthed out of meeting a lot of christians whose only basis for following God or preaching about him was because they themselves were fearful of going to hell. We spoke about the motivation of fear vs the motivation of love. The fact is our service to God normally springs out of one or the other.
I speak about God these days more increasingly because of the love I have for him, but it wasn't always this way. One illustration can be put like this.
When I was younger (early teenage years) I feared my Dad. Why?
Because I knew if I pushed him to his limit I was liable to recieve the punishment on my backside, and for a time, it preserved me from committing any notable evils either towards my brothers or sisters or on road :).
When I grew older (late teens, early 20's) I still feared my dad. Why?
Because I had a great respect (fear) for the wisdom God had put in him to help me when I had issues, the way he grew us up, and the way he sincerely cared about us.
What's the difference? The way in which I feared him changed. One was out of fear of punishment, and one was out of respect for his character and who he was as a person and a father.
Sometimes, this is the dilemma we face. We've always been taught to fear God, but how should we fear him? Should we be scared of hell? Should this be our motivation to share and proclaim the gospel?.........No.......not if we're in Jesus and sincerely believe in all he's done for us. But we should respect him, and stand in awe of all he is. Isn't this simple revelation of who he is, how many of us came into the faith in the first place?
'There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love'. a
There is a type of fear which involves punishment and we'd be wise to stay clean away from that. Especially if we want to serve God out of a true heart. The service he desires is that which is birthed out of love. But then again, we can only truly love him when we realise how much and how deeply he loves us. But thats another topic......
a- 1 John 4:18
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