Love and Fear.

I just got back from my English Composition class, where we were discussing excerpts from Machiavelli's "The Prince". In this piece Machiavelli states different characteristics he finds necessary in a ruler, and the question of "whether it is better to be loved or feared" is addressed. While discussing this idea in class, the teacher raised the idea of whether it was possible to be both loved and feared. At first everyone answered no, thinking that was the most obvious answer. But then a girl raised her hand and said "Isn't that how we should view God? As both someone to be feared as well as loved?", which got me thinking.

Sometimes it seems like you can only do one at a time when it comes to God. You can either love Him, or you fear Him. You can choose to admire all the good things He has done for you, or you can choose to think of all His power and be scared by it.

As I think of my own view of God, I think I catch myself thinking of all His goodness without thinking of why I should fear Him. Fearing Him means I have to examine my actions and figure out if I'm really living in fear of God or not, while loving Him is just being thankful for all He has done. Loving him seems to come a little easier than fear. Obviously not all the time, but sometimes I find this to be true.

When I think about how powerful God is and how much punishment I deserve from Him, it makes things harder. It's much easier to think that you can do whatever you want and God won't get involved until you ask Him to. Like I can sin all I want, and I don't really have to stop whatever I'm doing until I decide to face up to what I've done and ask for forgiveness. But that isn't right at all! God is so powerful and huge and omnipotent and could absolutely obliterate me if He chose to. I don't deserve to be here at all, it's only by God's grace that I am. When I think about that, it makes me want to fear Him and live my life accordingly. To not fear God is so selfish, and it makes your entire life about you. It doesn't show that you truly respect God for who He is or that you are thankful for all He has done. As I look over my life, I hate to think of how often I live my life doing whatever I want, thinking I can just deal with the bad stuff later. But when I consider all that God has done for me, how can I even possibly have that attitude? He deserves all my respect and fear, not just love and affection. He has done so much for me, why can't I live a life that shows that?