In my recent post on "Fear Leading to Awe,"  I focused on the kind of fear we are called to have of God. Joan Ball let me know that she is working through similar things here, and it is worth a read. In my last post I noted that fear can lead to anxiety or awe, depending on how that fear is oriented and what its impulses are. Ball notes in her article that fear is a controlling kind of thing. We know what someone means when they say that they were "overcome" in fear. Fear of God leading to awe, therefore, is the same kind of thing as submitting fully to the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord because fearing the Lord is recognizing who he is. 

Furthermore, the fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom is the fear which leads to awe - the fear growing out of a true knowledge of God and self. On the other hand, we are also told that true love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Again, in this context, fear is not that which leads to awe but to punishment. This kind of fear is fostered in those of us who read Rom. 8:1, where we are told that there is now "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," but are unable to allow that truth to sink in. There is, again, too much guilt and shame corroding the foundation of our knowledge of God in Christ. We can often accept God as loving and God as forgiving, but fail to know the God who loves us and forgives us. True love casts out fear, because true love is not dependent upon the deservedness of the one loved, but the abundance of love in the lover. In Christ, we find the abundance of God's love. In Christ, we find fear cast aside, because Christ did not die for those who were good, but in the midst of our sin and depravity Christ died for us.

Along with Ball's article, we must ask, "What is there to fear in ministry, life, or relationships?" Are we afraid of failure - but God is victorious; are we afraid of being alone - but God is with us; do we fear that our ministries are unimportant? In this last case, maybe we are called to relatively "unimportant" things in the kingdom of God. But what is small with God, say, a mustard seed, still flourishes in his kingdom.