Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
Does God want us to fear him? A healthy fear of God may keep us from sinning. I have a phrase I use to describe the development of morality: Trust, Obey, Do the right thing. As children, we come to trust our parents, they feed us and take care of us. We trust them so we obey them. Ultimately we hope to come to the point in our development where we do the right thing because it is the right thing. We have developed a sense of morality. The Israelites are learning to trust God as he provides for them. They will obey him based on this trust and fear of what will happen if they sin. When fear and trust wain, so does obedience. As Judaism develops into Christianity, sinning less is based more on doing what is right because it is right verses a fear of God.
Lord, thank you for guiding us. Please help us to do the right thing. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment