Holy fear leads us to dread anything which might cause our Father’s displeasure. A good child would not do anything which would make his father feel vexed with him. “It vexes me,” says he, “if it vexes my father.” So let there be always with us a fear to offend our loving God. He is jealous, remember that. It is one of the most solemn truths in the Bible, “The Lord thy God is a jealous God.” We might have guessed it, for great love has always that dangerous neighbor jealousy not far off.
They that love not have no hate, no jealousy, but where there is an intense, a definite love, like that which glows in the bosom of God, there must be jealousy. And oh, how jealous he is of the hearts of his people! How determined he is to have all their love! How I have known him to take away the objects of their attachment, one after another — break their idols, and deprive them of their precious vanities — all to get their hearts wholly to himself, because he knew it would never be right with them while they had a divided heart, It was injurious to themselves, and so he is jealous of that which injures them, and jealous of that which dishonors him. Let us have this holy fear very strong upon us, and we shall avoid anything which might grieve the Spirit of God.
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Godly Fear And Its Goodly Consequence." delivered. Image by Jenny Downing on Flickr under Creative Commons License.
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