The Fear Of The Lord

"He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."
~Isaiah 33:6

People have lost the fear of the Lord. On one hand, fear of the Lord means a reverence and respect for who He is, what He has done, and continues to do for us. As Christians, that is what is meant when we say we fear the Lord-- we have the utmost respect for Him, for what He has done on the Cross, for His salvation, tender mercies, and loving kindness. But there's another kind of fear that people should know about. God says that He is a God of wrath, a Man of war, and when it comes down to the endgame, people should be in fear of God because their eternal souls are in danger.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23)."

"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9)."

According to these verses, God does not want any of us to perish. He wants all of us to repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He wants each and everyone of us to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. But the simple fact is, it's our choice, not God's. He gives us the chance but unless we take that opportunity, we will spend eternity in hell.

The word repent means to turn around, change direction, walk away from whatever it is you were doing. In essence, it means change your life for the better. When we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, we are to follow Jesus. We are to read the Bible, go to church, and stop doing the things we used to do. Yet I see people who profess to be Christians who continue to post lewd and lascivious memes on Facebook, they continue to use foul language, they continue to dress in revealing outfits, they act exactly the way they did prior to their so-called conversion.

"Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:4)."

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)."

Hell is a real place of torment and separation from God for eternity. A lot of churches these days don't preach Bible basics. They don't preach salvation, mercy, or grace. They certainly don't preach how to live according to God's Word and what will happen if we don't. And they will be held accountable for those people who were lost because of them. We will all be held accountable, whether we are Christians or not. The difference is, Christians will be held accountable for their deeds as Christians and rewarded; non-Christians will be found guilty for not accepting Christ as their Savior. But for those who claim to be Christians and sit in church on Sundays but live like there is no Cross the rest of the week, I think it will be worse for them. Imagine facing Jesus Christ and explaining how you knew what was right according to His Word, yet chose to ignore Him. It makes my blood run cold.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16).”