And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. [Ecclesiastes 3.14]
Big words are spoken here, especially when it comes to talking about God's purpose.
Why does God exist? So people should fear him.
Why did God create the earth? So people should fear him.
Why did God give man rules? So people should fear him.
Why did God give His Son? So people should fear him.
Why did God create heaven and hell? So people should fear him.
Okay, so we get the idea of what motivates God. So then, what does it mean for us to fear God? We should look to the first demonstration of actually and intentionally fearing God recorded in the Bible (Abraham):
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” [Genesis 22.12]
To fear God is to believe Him. However, it must be understood that to fear God is not just to believe in him as we believe in a plethora of things, but to fear God is to believe ONLY in him with no deference whatsoever to human reason (i.e., unconditionally). To fear God is to quite literally abandon ourselves entirely to Him.
It should not surprise us that God in the flesh, Jesus, confirmed this in no uncertain terms:
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]
God's purpose is that people should fear Him - believe in Him as He manifested Himself in Jesus Christ demanding singular, undivided obedience to (faith in) Him ONLY.
But, what about love? Well, let's look at love:
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [John 3.16]
Although God' love is unconditional for mankind, man's receipt of the benefit of God's love is very strictly conditioned upon fearing Him - believing in Him ONLY. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
In today's One Year Chronological Bible reading, there is an important statement that just happens to immediately follow the subject verse above:
What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again. [Ecclesiastes 3.15]
Just as God's purpose is unrelenting, so it is that everything that opposes God is unrelenting. And, what is everything that opposes God? Idolatry.
Idolatry is the recurring "problem" of the Bible (the same thing happening over and over again). It is for this purpose that God’s purpose is that people should fear him. Remember that fearing God is believing in Him ONLY - believing in Jesus Christ ALONE - giving up every way of our own (idols), taking up our cross (the indisputable proof of undivided love), and following Him.
God’s purpose ...that people should fear him is the reason we have the entire Bible.
Father, may we be found fearing You - having given up our own way, taken up our cross, and following Jesus ONLY. So be it.
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