Godly Fear

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.
04/04/2022


"And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear." (1 Peter 1:17)

When my children were younger, I often had the privilege of telling them a story before they went to bed. It was always a special time for us. The anticipation in their eyes, as well as their sweet giggling as I began, was delightful. I usually started by asking them what kind of story they wanted. Inevitably they requested a “scary story.” They loved to be scared. This is because the scariest moment of the story was also the most exciting moment for them as the “monster” tickled them relentlessly. As they listened to me tell the scary story they anxiously wondered, “When is tickle monster going to come?” Their fear, then, was really more of an excited anticipation of something imminent rather than a terror of something awful.

Similarly, Christians are to have a godly fear. We are to fear the Lord—not out of terror of something awful. That kind of terror is reserved for those who have not placed their faith solely in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. That kind of fear is reserved for those who will face Him some day at the Great White Throne judgment. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Believers, by contrast, should have a different kind of fear. It is an anticipation of something imminent. It is an exciting expectation of a future event. Peter put it this way in his first epistle “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” (1 Pet. 1:17)

Peter wrote those words to a group of believers who were facing persecution. In his epistle, Peter challenges Christians to endure suffering because it identifies them with Christ’s suffering and it also results in the blessing of rewards when they meet Christ face to face. Peter practiced what he preached. Just a few months after penning this epistle he himself was martyred. The early church father Origen tells us that Peter was crucified with his head downward at his own request. Peter knew what it meant to live the Christian life in a continuous state of fear. Not terror, mind you, but reverent fear knowing that he would face the Lord one day to give an account of his life of service. This kind of steadfast expectation motivates us to serve Christ faithfully.
 
Implicit within Peter’s statement, “conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear,” is an awareness that we are just passing through this life. Peter calls us “sojourners and pilgrims,” which begs the question: How are you spending your time here? Is your life characterized by godly fear? During these times when life is uncertain and many churches and Christians are facing persecution, let us look forward to that time when we will see Christ face to face. May we have an excited anticipation of something imminent rather than a terror of something awful.

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