Three More Motivations for Cultivating the Fear of the Lord

Here are three more things that will motivate you to cultivate a proper fear of the Lord.

Fearing the Lord will elevate your worship. “Therefore let us be grateful…and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28). When the fear of the Lord is lost, worship is trivialized and adoration is replaced by entertainment. But when people become gripped with a massive vision of the glory of God, and when God’s people can say, “We have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” worship is lifted and God’s people come before Him with reverence and awe.

Fearing the Lord will make you more like Jesus. “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him… the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD” (Isa. 11:2-3). These words describe how Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. To be filled with the Spirit is to delight in the fear of the Lord. That’s how it was with Jesus. Professor John Murray says, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.” When we fear the Lord, we become more like Jesus.

Fearing the Lord will deliver you from other fears. “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD… he will not be afraid” (Psa. 112:1, 8). Knowing this God and seeing that He is for you strengthens you to face all other fears.

Think about a time when the fear of the Lord made a difference in your life.