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FEAR IS “NEGATIVE” BUT NOT ALL BAD

Something I often find that trips up Christians, even those who have been Christians for years, is the idea that Christianity is supposed to stay positive. That is, negativity is bad, and positivity is good.

One example of this, is that fear (negative) should never be a motivation to serve God; the motivation of our service ought always to be love (positive).

In this example, the error is not immediately obvious because it is true that servile fear of judgement (like that of the demons) is never a right motivation to serve. Further the Bible itself says “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

However, John is not saying that fear has no longer any place in the Christian at all, but a maturing relationship with God ought to be one characterised more by the knowledge of his love rather than fear of judgement. 1 John 4:17 says: “By this [meaning the knowledge that God is love – v.16) is love perfected”. The next verse emphasises this point: “we love because he first loved us” (v.19).

Is that supposed to mean that God no longer uses fear at all? Hardly! Acts 9:31 says: “And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it [the church] multiplied.” If it really is the case that fear is always bad, then someone ought to have reminded God that causing them to fear was not the right way.

Growing in Christian maturity often means that God brings us to repentance through fear of him. His threats of judgment in Scripture, for example, are not warnings to ignore as inapplicable because we are safe, but calls to examine ourselves (2 Cor.13:5). We will only really remedy discrepancies between his ways and our ways if he is feared above all. We are not going to respond adequately in repentance if we only think of him as a doting father. We need to respond to God as one so weighty and awesome and holy that we would hate to see him dishonoured by our sin.

The comfort spoken of in Acts 9:31 is one wrought by the Holy Spirit because the same Holy Spirit has brought us to a place of wanting the only comfort that can sustain us in that fear. It refers to the experiential knowledge of God and the comfort that he sends by his Holy Spirit precisely because we are in need of it because we tremble before him. What a precious thing to know this comfort by experience!

So over time while we can expect our motivations for service to become more “positive”: from heartfelt love out of our growing knowledge of his love (1 John 4:18), let us not think fear is bad. When fear is joined with reverence and faith it eventually yields love. In fact, I don’t think we will ever do away with it. True worship is combined with reverential awe, trembling faith, and love for a most gloriously good and holy God.

– Bryan Kim