I Am Committed Out of Fear
I Am Committed Out of Fear
Question
I am committed to the commandments of God out of fear of punishment in the afterlife, and not out of love for Christ. Please correct this.
Answer
There is no objection to beginning your spiritual life with fear, and then developing into love.
For the Holy Bible says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10), and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10).
And the fear of God was not forbidden by the Bible; rather, it said: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4, 5). Thus, He repeated the fear of God three times…
But fear is the beginning of the way. Then it develops. And how is that?
Through the fear of God, you obey His commandments. And by practicing the commandments, you find delight in them, so you love the commandments, and then you love God who gave them.
Thus, fear leads you to love. The love of God may not be the beginning of the way for many people. But it becomes the summit to which a person can attain spiritually, and it permeates every spiritual work that he does. It is unreasonable for you to begin at the summit…
A person may also turn away from sin out of fear of its consequences.
And by continually staying away from it, that becomes a habit in him, and he does not exert effort to resist such a sin. Consequently, he walks in the life of the virtue corresponding to it.
So do not be troubled by beginning with fear…
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