Like Tuning a Guitar String

The knowledge of God's mercy and compassion must be held in tension with knowledge of His judgement. These are not incompatible with each other, they are two sides of the same coin. "For God so loved the world that He gave..." John 3:16. This is the same God who will also allow His wrath to remain on the wicked and disobedient. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already..." John 3:18. And later on John says: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36)

The knowledge of God's compassion and His judgment must be held in tension like a perfectly tuned guitar string. If I tune the string too tight (that is if I focus too much on His judgment) it will be too high pitched and threaten to break. If I tune the string too low (that is focus too much on His mercy and compassion) the string will become slack and lose its distinct sound. When tuned right, along with the other strings on the instrument (that is, the church) and played together a beautiful melody of praise to God is created.

How do we know when the tune is right? This can only come from time spent in relationship with the Lord, reading His Word, talking to the Lord in prayer. The daily disciplines cannot be emphasized enough. We do not practice spiritual disciplines in order to avoid God's wrath; we practice the disciplines so that we might fine tune our listening skills which are needed to properly "tune the string."

Whatever Happened to Godly Fear?

Why should we witness to others? Why should others receive Christ? How about godly fear as a motivator? Could it be that we have emphasized grace so much that now no one has a healthy fear of God? There is even a book out now called If Grace is True. The premise of this book is basically that if God's grace is true, then everyone is saved, there is no hell to avoid, there is no wrath of God to avoid.

Actually grace is true.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all mankind and it teaches us to deny ungodliness..." Titus 2:11-12

In the past I have defined grace as some wishy washy, nebulous thing that God just granted to me when I said a prayer at the altar. Now I see it as the thing that brought me to that altar to begin with. And, according to Titus 2:12 His grace is also a teacher that teaches me to avoid ungodliness. How do I know what ungodliness is unless I have a genuine, healthy fear of God? Grace is the powerful thing that teaches these to my heart.
Another thing I used to think was that God wanted to deliver us from sin because of what sin does to us and those around us. Of course this is partly true. Lately I have learned in my heart that sin hurts God. I am afraid of hurting God, of breaking His heart. My relationship with Him is too important. I fear breaking that relationship with Him, I fear putting up a wall between myself and my God. The focus is not on me, the focus is on Him. Fear of God brings about this focus.

"Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men..." 2 Cor. 5:11
The fear of God brings us to true salvation, the fear of God should also encourage us to witness to others. I must confess, this is one area where I am not doing so well. Perhaps that is why the Lord is speaking to me about these things.