No Fear

That is my youngest son Cecil Chase there by the horse. He has been around them since he was born and on their back by 18 months old. He will walk out into the pasture and grab them by the halter and start leading them around. We are thankful that we have well behaved horses and attempt to dissuade him from doing this because he has so little fear of them. It is not that we want him to be afraid of them but we want him to have a respect for them because of what they can do to him.

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

When we refuse to put Christ in His proper place in our hearts and lives we risk putting ourselves into harms way. It is hard for us here in the states to understand what it is like to have an ultimate authority in our lives so we tend to not esteem those in authority over us especially when it comes to God. We have become so focused on our own rights that we forget that we were bought and paid for by the precious blood of the lamb.

The reverential fear is basically esteeming the sacrifice that was made on our behalf causing us to ensure that whatever we do we do to honor and glorify Him. We do not dare act or behave in a manner that would be displeasing to our Lord and King regardless of whether or not anyone can see us doing these things. The reason being is because we belong to the King; we are His property. Since we were bought and paid for He saw it fitting to make us heirs with Christ thus making us not mere subjects but royalty. You see if we were to esteem this position that we were given then it would cause us to act a little differently. Perhaps it would cause us to love others a little bit more after all they do not have what we have and even if they are part of the family it should cause us to love them all the more.

Tertullian in his 2nd century defense of Christianity wrote about how Christian love attracted pagan notice. In it he states; “What makes us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness: ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look at how they love one another.’ (Apology 59)

You can rest assured that this is probably no longer the case in most churches or of most Christians and it has to break the heart of Christ. We are no longer the loving people we once were and in fact we are so wrapped up in self and the wants of the world that we are no different than Chase there walking out into the field among those horses without any fear. It is true that he might not get hurt but sooner or later something will happen. Something could spook the horse at the wrong moment and and he could get trampled or worse; killed.

God could allow you to go through your little escapade with the world and apart from loosing His blessings nothing else major seems to happen but consider all those who you affect with your little adventure. It could be your kids or another family member; it could be your neighbor or coworker. The one thing that you can be assured of is that it is going to affect someone. Someone will turn their back on God because of you; because of your lack of reverential fear of an Almighty God and your lack of gratitude for the blood that was shed on Calvary's tree.

You see even if Chase does not get hurt out there what do you think would happen to another kid who has never been around horses and sees him doing what he does and decides to try it himself? Think about it.