In my last post, I talked about God's love. Someone questioned how such a Loving God
could create Hell. It does seem like a
place of torture would be contrary to love, however, it proves God's love.
God did not create Hell for people--it was created for Satan
and his angels. It was to be a holding
place for all evil--because evil hurts and breaks. Sin brings death. If God let sin remain
unpunished, there would be no hope for wholeness and healing. God created man
perfect--but gave him free will. Using
this power of choice, man chose sin. Sin
created a separation between a Holy God
and a fallen man. This is where love enters.
Even though man chose to turn away from God, God still chose to reach
out to man. Jesus Christ gave his life
for ours--taking the entire punishment for sin upon himself by going to the
cross. If anyone goes to Hell, it will be a personal choice. God is not willing that any should
perish--but He does not force us to accept His plan of escape.
Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
The title, "No Fear", may have been a
misnomer. A better title would have been
"Freed from Frantic Fear".
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
The fear mentioned in this verse speaks of a reverence for
God. This is a good and necessary fear. The fear I mentioned from I John 4:18
is defined as terror or a phobia and most of us have been there.
Fear is a self preservation emotion. It allows us to realize that something is
terribly wrong and needs to be fixed.
The fear of the Lord is when we realize His holiness and our sinfulness.
Our sin problem needs to be fixed. God
is the judge--this means He has the power to sentence or pardon. When our fear causes us to call on Him and
ask for His pardon, He gives it--freely. Once fear is replaced by faith in the
Cross of Christ, we can go forward to grow in love. What once was broken is now whole. His Perfect
love brings acceptance and forgiveness. The terror of eternal punishment is
gone--"Fear not!"
For some this is more difficult than others--situations in
life have given them legitimate reasons to fear and releasing it through faith
seems too dangerous and impossible. These thoughts are not meant to trivialize
this pain in any way. God loves you and
He specializes in the impossible. He has
infinite understanding of each person's situation. Every baby step of faith on
our part is met by a giant leap of love on His.
I hope this explanation is helpful--I am still learning!
There is much about God and how He works that I do not understand. I just accept it by faith. This blog is not
intended to be a forum for debate or even a soapbox--it is more like my
spiritual diary into which others can take a peek.
