Just so I have all of these posts in one place, I’ve copied and pasted what I wrote on Facebook on 8/27/07 below. This is a topic I’m hoping to pick up again and I hope you’ll continue to contribute to the discussion.

So I’m thinking about doing some sort of big paper exploring everything that the Bible has to say about fear - which is a lot. This is something that both Laura and I have been talking about for a long time now, and I’d like to organize my thoughts and get them written down. I would love to have anyone else’s input or thoughts on this, and I’ll try to post again about it from time to time.

One of the main premises that I am trying to support is that all action is motivated by fear (not fear as we typically think of it, but rather fear as the Bible describes it), and that all sin is - at its core - motivated by a fear of someone or something other than the true God.

With that said, here are a couple of good things to chew on from what I’ve been reading lately:

1. Romans 14:23b - “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

2. “Love, fear, trust—these are words of worship. Jesus commands us to love God, fear God, and trust God only (Matt. 22:37; Luke 12:4-5; John 14:1). Anytime we long for something apart from God, fear something more than God, or trust in something other than God to make us happy, fulfilled, or secure, we worship a false god. As a result, we deserve the judgment and wrath of the true God.” (from The Peacemaker by Ken Sande)

Feel free to comment, especially if you have suggestions on where to find more material on this topic.

That’s all for now…

Other posts of the series

1. The Fear of the LORD in Job -
2. Quotes from "The Fear of God" by John Murray -
3. Fear-of-the-LORD exemplified in 2 Chronicles 20:1-12 -
4. Fear -
5. Fear -
6. Fear -
7. Fear -
8. Fear -
9. Fear -
10. Fear (This post)