Kimchi, not for me

A quote from John Bunyan's book All Loves Excelling

O the length of the saving arm of God! As yet thou art within the reach thereof; do not thou go about to measure arms with God, as some good men are apt to do: I mean, do not thou conclude, that because thou canst not reach God by thy short stump, therefore he cannot reach thee with his long arm.

So this week I've started studying the fear of God. God has provided me with a wonderful spiritual family, and we meet once a week to fellowship and study the Word. Last week, we decided to study the fear of God and talk about it this week. So I started looking up verses on the fear of God, and started to see how very often it appeared, and yet how it seems to be so absent from Christianity today.

I've been struck by this in a way I'm having a very hard time putting into words. In college, when I went over to the "other side" and started calling myself reformed/a Calvinist, I noticed a quality or trait in quite a few of the people I looked up to that held the same beliefs (Stuart Swicegood, Mike Godfrey, Eric Most - to name a few). It was this intangible quality, that I couldn't put into words, but knew was good. It was this calm trust, this obvious faith, a kind of active resting in God. I remember Eric Most always used to talk about delighting in the sovereignty of God. That was totally his catchphrase. And it was what these people did. To me, it gave off a whole different picture of God. I know people joke about Presbyterians (who are generally reformed) being the "frozen chosen," and I see how that's an error one can slip into. But when there isn't any kind of apathy or laziness, it looks very different.

Having grown up in Baptist churches, the picture of God that I got from the actions of those around me was one of a busy, frazzled, overworked God. We had to work ourselves into the ground and plead for people to walk the aisle because it was dependent on us. I see that as kind of the opposite error of the "frozen chosen." The middle ground between them is what I saw exemplified in the life of those three guys listed above at school, then in the lives of Beth and Adam in Korea. It was a proactive rest and trust in God. It left a profound impact on me. Now, as I have been studying the fear of God, I think this formerly inexpressible quality is just that: the fear of God.

I have been reading all I can get my hands on about the fear of God, and one sermon I read last night said, "This means that in America today, as well as on the mission field, it won't do to simply present God as a caring loving God. The gospel will not be the gospel against that backdrop. It only makes sense against the backdrop of truth. God is holy and glorious. We have all sinned against him and fallen short of that glory. We are under his just wrath and without hope. But God so loved the world that he sent his only Son that whoever believes in him might be saved—saved from wrath (John 3:16, 36)." (It was actually in a Piper sermon, you can find it here.)

What was presented to me in church growing up was this God who loved ME so much that he sent his son to die for ME that I might have eternal life and I could be happy in eternity. Despite what I know were the good intentions of those in leadership, it was very man-centered. And that is what I love about reformed theology - that it is entirely God-centered. The point though, is that I think a big reason so much of American Christianity is man-centered today is because we focus on the love of God to the exclusion of other attributes, such as holiness, justice, and wrath. Focusing only on those last three would lead to other errors. The point is, I really think there must be a balance.

Another awesome quote from an article about the fear of God, "The reason why grace is so little appreciated in our days is that the transcendent majesty and sovereignty and holiness of God are so little appreciated, and we do not see much more than a half step between God and our sinful selves." I found this article to be the most profound, and it can be found here. Totally go read it.

The point of this blog is just to let out where I'm at with all of this. It's been one of the most productive things spiritually in quite some time, for me. I'd love it if anyone had some thoughts to share on the matter. What do you think it means to fear God? How does that fear play out in everyday life?