Many of us are out-of-balance. We do not recognize who God is, and we don't recognize the critical balance between fear and love.
If we focus our attention on the fear side, we become legalistic. Christianity becomes nothing but rituals and regulations. "I must jump through this hoop, I must do this and do that, or else God might punish me."
On the other hand, we can go in the opposite direction when we take too many liberties with God. We think that since God loves us unconditionally, it does not matter how we live our life. Yes, God does love us unconditionally; but His judgment is connected to our love for Him. We should obey Him because we love Him, but a part of that love is a fearful realization that God is an awesome and powerful judge who will hold us accountable for our actions.
If we fall too far on the side of love and liberty, we can become lazy about our Christian commitment. Achieving this perfect balance between fear and love is one of the greatest goals of spiritual maturity.
1 comment:
So I just started writing about having balance in our Christian life. I hadn't thought about that point; I may have to write up a little on that. Great point Jared!
There are a lot of things in the Christian life that require balance, but I think lots of times we just want to pick a side and go to the extreme.
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