What does it mean to fear God?  That is the question of the century and there have been all kinds of answers.  Now, I am going to throw my hat into the ring.

To fear God is to hold Him in awe and respect Him for who He is.  Who is He?  There are many answers to that question as well and mine is the One true Living Creator that spoke creation into existence.  Imagine, the power of God and the spoken Word.   

Some people want Him to be their friend.  He wants us to be His friend.  There is a slight juxtaposition that can be overlooked if one does not listen to that carefully. Some people want Him to be their friend.  He wants us to be His friend.  If we want Him to be our friend, that would mean we take Him out of His position to come down to our world to be with us and be there for us when we need Him.  ‘When we need Him’.    What a waste of power. It is as if we take out our phone and dial Him up and tell Him that we need Him.  Calling Him down to our world, full of its sin and impurities and imperfections.   God cannot come face to face with sin.   It is not His time yet for it has not come.  He is perfection and He calls us to be like Him.  “Perfect”.  He already came down once and He overcame!

 

Jesus, on the other hand, wants us to be His friend.  From His position He is calling us up to a higher standard, to a higher calling then just paycheck to paycheck.  He wants the best for us and all we have to do is accept His free gift of grace and believe in Him.

So, you want Him to be your friend?  Sure – go ahead.   You want Him to walk with you on the beach, barefoot in the sand?  Fine!  Just be careful because you are treading on dangerous territory.  To walk alongside Him is to put Him on par with you or the converse ‘you on par with Him’.  To do so is saying the you can see Him eye to eye more clearly for who He is.  To see Him face to face.  To walk side by side with Him is tantamount to idolatry.  It takes the conviction out of His words and there is no reason to change.  There is no reason to change because we both see things the same – eye to eye.  There is  no one on par with Him.  He is second to none.  Look what happened to Archangel Lucifer.

To pay homage to the Almighty and most reverent  King is to fall on your knees for we are His subordinates not His equal.  In mid evil times, when a king would cross the path of a knight or a knight would come upon a king, the knight would genuflect, put his right hand on top of his left hand on top of his right knee and say “Sire, my Lord and my King, what doth thou ask of me”.

Does He want us to be His friend or do we want Him to be our friend?

I will tell you one thing for sure!  He wants a relationship, not a casual acquaintance.