One day I went to get my vacuum cleaner repaired. When I walked into the store with two of my
daughters, we met a very outgoing and nice young gentleman who was the attendant
at the time. As I shared with him what
was wrong with my machine, he began to repair it. As he was repairing it, we struck up a
conversation. He said that he was a Christian
and as soon as he knew I was a Christian as well, our conversation was fueled
with both of us sharing about God’s faithfulness and God’s love. My daughters loved the way he expressed his
love for the Lord. He made us laugh and we
were all hi-fiving each other each time we expressed how great God is. Needless to say, there was a lot of joy and
laughter in the store.
He shared with me that he recently rededicated his life to
God and that he also recently just got back with his wife after a short
separation. He said that he was serious
about having a marriage the way God intended.
He wanted to be a good example to his children and he shared that he was
determined to be the husband that God called him to be. When he talked about his relationship with
God, his eyes lit up and the joy on his face was hard to miss – his love for
the Lord was a beautiful sight.
Right before I left with a repaired vacuum cleaner in my
hand, I turned to him and said, “You know, your love for your wife will not
keep you faithful to her.” He looked at
me with a puzzled look on his face. I
then said, “What will keep you faithful to your wife - is the fear of God.” His face lit up again and he said, “Amen
sister!”
The kind of fear of the Lord that followers of Christ have -
is not the kind of fear that causes you to be afraid of Him because we fear His
judgment. Followers of Christ understand
that Jesus took the penalty for our sins at the cross when He died for us –
Jesus took away the fear of judgment. The
kind of fear that followers have, causes us to reverence Him, respect Him and value
His commands over our emotions because He has proven to us that His instruction
leads to life. It is the fear of the Lord
described in Psalm 19:9, “The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm and all of
them are righteous.”
When we respect and reverence God, we will love His precepts
and statutes. The Bible says that God’s
statute are more precious than gold and they are sweeter than honey. By them we
are warned and keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
“When we think of statutes, precepts and commands, we often
think of rules that keep us from having fun. But here we see the opposite-law
that revives us, makes us wise, gives joy to the heart, gives light to the
eyes, warns us, and rewards us. That’s because God’s laws are guidelines and
lights for our path, rather than chains on our hands and feet. They point at
danger and warn us and then point at success and guide us.” Bible Commentary
for Psalm 19:7-11
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy
One is understanding. Through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be
added to your life.” Proverbs 9:10
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