With Fear

"And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers… with the precious blood of Christ."

As much as we need to understand the love of our Father, we also need to have a holy fear of Him. If we call on Him as Father we need to also recognize that at one point we did not. At one point we were not children of God. God paid a high price for us to become His children. He paid with Jesus' blood. This is no small thing.

We are forgiven; however, we do not need to become children sitting on ant hills with a magnifying glass telling God to smite all the ants that bite us. We do not need to become prideful about how big our Father is and pick fights to prove it. Sometimes, we need to get off the ant hill and away from the situation we placed ourselves in that is causing us pain. We may not get the judgment (that went to Jesus) but we still get the consequences. God will hold us accountable for our part.

We will continue to sin, but we do not need to be afraid of God and His judgment. He is still a loving Father. If you've been a parent or watched a parent teach their child how to walk they do not yell at them when they fall down. They pick them up and keep encouraging them to walk toward them. Our Father is the same way. He will encourage us with His love (and not guilt us with fear or shame) to keep walking after Him. If you are guilted into following God, it will not last. Not only will your heart not be there but eventually you will recognize it is not worth doing anymore. "For the joy set before Him [Jesus] endured the cross…" (Heb 12:2). In the same way we find joy in following Christ. We are to look to Him and follow His example (Heb 12:2, among others). He is a treasure worth seeking (Mat 13:44-46).