"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom . . ." - Proverbs 9:10

In his excellent daily devotional, The One Year Walk With God, Chris Tiegreen writes the following:

We're uncomfortable with the idea of fearing God. We defend Him as One whose love is so great He needs not be feared. As 1 John 4:18 says: "Perfect love drives out fear." So we redefine fear as "awe" and "reverence." Yet the Scriptures use the term "fear of God" frequently enough to give us the impression that something more than awe is appropriate. It is the kind of fear that terrified the disciples when they heard God's voice at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:6); that overwhelmed Isaiah when he cried out: "Woe to me! . . . I am ruined!" in God's presence (Isaiah 6:5); and that drove John facedown at the sight of the glorified Son (Revelation 1:17).

. . . when we approach the Holy One with casual familiarity, we are not living in reality.

I think he has a point. The more I learn about God and the longer I know him, the less comfortable I am with the "fear" = "awe" formula. I'm reminded of this frequently when dealing with students. For background, I am no longer working with teenagers at church (we now teach the young singles) but I was a long-time student worker, and I've got a very bad feeling about this. I'll tell you what it is: I think we've failed our students. I certainly failed them. In how many Student programs is the concept of fearing God really taught, in the midst of all of our damnable relevance? To make this more personal, how well have I taught that, both in my public teaching and in my dealings with my own children?

To many Christians God has become so familiar that he can be joked about, his name can be said in vain without fear (for how could that possibly upset our cool, relevant pal-God?). Irreverence has become a celebrated trait in our popular culture - a trait to be aped - and that irreverence permeates even into the church. The throne room has become a place to "hang out". We might even feel comfortable with "getting in God's face" if he has displeased us. In the coarsening of culture and language, the way God is spoken about, and spoken to, by we who bear his name makes me tremble. American church leaders decided to spend the last two decades experimenting with building up a God who meets felt needs and stirs emotions, and the result is what my own kids are experiencing among their friends: churched young people leaving the faith in droves. Because there comes a point where this small, familiar, man-shaped god has outlived his usefulness, and it's time to move on to bigger and better things.

I think it's time, in my own life, to move beyond awe and reverence. I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't be terrified.

"When we approach the Holy One with casual familiarity, we are not living in reality."