There is a healthy fear of God, which Scripture calls the beginning of wisdom, born of drawing near to Him and seeing His holiness and our sin, but there is also an unhealthy fear that shows itself in running away from God through unbelief, denial, evasion, blame-shifting, or flight from responsibility, as seen in Jonah, Adam, and Eve. Such fear is not courage but terror, a refusal to be changed by God, and it inevitably multiplies fear until all of life becomes threatening, because creation itself bears witness to its Creator and leaves no hiding place. Men who fear God and flee from Him end up fearing everything; yet flight is futile, for God confronts us everywhere, even from within our own being. In the end, we must meet Him either naked and afraid in our guilt or clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and when we meet Him in Christ, fear is cast out, God becomes our Father, and our hearts cry, “Abba,” as we enter the joy of His redeeming love.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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