The Time of Our Sojourning Here Part 4

It is said we are all born with two primary fears. Every one of us is born with the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises. Every other fear we must learn through experience, we must learn through education, and we must learn through practice.

‘No Fear’ might be a great tag line for a t-shirt, but there are some thing we ought to fear, and rightly so. I fear getting electrocuted, so I don’t go around licking live wires. I fear being mauled to death, so I don’t go around slapping grizzly bears across the snout. I fear God, knowing He is just and holy, so I do my utmost to be what He expects me to be which is nothing less than holy.

It is not as though the time of our sojourning here is inconsequential. If it were, then it is doubtful God would have included so many warnings in the Bible as to how we ought to conduct ourselves while sojourning here. It is because there are consequences to our actions while we journey here, and it is because how we conduct ourselves while here is important that God inspired it to be included in the Word.

There are certain fears we, as children of God ought never to have, and at the top of the list, number one with a bullet, is the fear of man. It is because we do not fear God that we fear man. Yes, the preceding statement was profound in its simplicity.

When we fear God, there is no fear of man to be had. When we fear men, then there is no fear of God to be had. You cannot fear man and God equally, and as such you must choose to fear one or the other.

So why is it that we have lost the fear of the Lord in our modern age? Why is it that we no longer fear God? We no longer fear God because as is the case with so many things, our modern age has stripped of meaning, some of the most profound truths.

‘And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear;’

If you call God Father, then you already know that He judges without partiality according to each one’s work. In calling God Father, there is a certain level of intimacy that one must assume, and a certain level of knowledge that one reasonably expects to exist.

Even a word as often used as father has been so butchered, that men today call God Father, without understanding what the word means, and without having the requisite relationship a father has with his son or daughter.

Is God your Father? What does the word Father mean to you?

Does the word father mean the individual who provided, cared for, protected, disciplined, taught, instructed, and loved you throughout your life, because that is what the word father means! It is not simply about biology, it’s not about seeing a picture of someone who is long gone, having abandoned his family, and being told they are your father.

This is partly the reason why our reaction toward the reality that God is our Father is so tepid and lifeless. It is because the word has been redefined, or because at least 50% of individuals today have a negative association with the word.

‘I was with you up to this point preacher, but come on are you insinuating that people’s perception of a word’s definition has a direct effect as to how they react toward it?’

Yes, that is what I am saying, not insinuating, but saying. Look at men’s definition of the word sin over the past few decades, and you will see that I am right. Sin used to be defined as death, and as such, men used to guard their hearts against it, and be ever vigilant in their walk.

Now that sin has become a relative term, a moral choice upon which another individual cannot pass judgment because everyone defines sin differently, the church is full of all manner of vile practices, and no one says a thing about it, because they will be smacked across the mouth with the ‘do not judge’ paddle.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.