Date: 26 May 2024, 9.30 am
Speaker: Ps Luwin Wong Sermon Text: Genesis 21:19–22:24
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TRANSCRIPT
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, as we open up your word this morning, may your Holy Spirit grant us wisdom and understanding, and a delight in fearing you, our great and awesome God. Amen.
I was talking to an Uber driver in Chicago. He was originally from Kerela, India, and when he found out I was from Singapore, he asked me what was unique about Singapore. I said, “I’m not quite sure, it’s a city-state, and to me, most major cities are pretty similar in vibe.”
He said, “Yea, I get what you mean – globalisation. You blindfold me put me into a plane and throw me into a shopping mall, and I wouldn’t know which country I’m in.”
After I got off, I thought about what he said, and I recalled that in the 90s there was a nation-wide attempt to figure out if Singapore had a distinct national culture, and if so, what was it? And we came up with two things which marked the Singaporean culture.
The first is Singlish. Really meh? Ya, really. And to prove that point, the second is a Singlish term we came up: “Kiasu-ism”.
I’m not making it up, no less that 10 scholarly papers have been published on Singapore’s Kiasu-ism.
Kiasu, it’s Hokkien dialect for the “fear of losing out”. Scared to lose.
There is a very popular child mental enrichment programme, I won’t name it, but one of the things they are known for is the use of flash cards, they will put it in front of the kids, very quickly, “ball, tiger, boat, handkerchief, banana, hat, table, whatever”. Right. And I know this because my nephew went for it when he was 2 years old.
My undergraduate studies was in psychology, and I told my mum, “Come on la, that’s not how the brain absorbs information. If you believe that, I got another method for you. You put the flash cards under his pillow right, at night when he sleeps, he will absorb all the information”.
The response was this, “Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. But so-and-so kid goes for it leh. If it works how? You want Lucas to lose out huh?” Kiasu.
Singaporeans are not just Kiasu tho. We are also Kiasi. Scared to die. Fear of dying.
When COVID hit, and there were so many restrictions and obligations imposed on the population, and the western governments had such difficulties getting their citizens to obey. They continued to gather for church services in defiance of the law, they refused to wear masks, they were actively protesting against vaccination. “How dare the government tell us what we can or cannot do to our own bodies”, blah, blah.
In Singapore, Govt say, “Everyone need to wear mask”. We say, “ah, can can, no problem, we wear masks”. Govt say, “COVID cannot go church”, we say, “aiyo, wasted. But, okay, we stay home.” Govt say, “All go and get your vaccine, jab two times”. We say, “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full”.
What’s the difference? Look at their cultural slogans: “America, home of the brave, land of the free”. Consider the cultural heroes of the West: Braveheart – William Wallace – “they may take our lives but they’ll never take our freedom!”
Singaporeans are like, “Eh, take my freedom, take my freedom, don’t take my life.” Kiasi.
We also Kiabo, scared got nothing. Fear of not having something.
I flew on United Airlines from Chicago to Maine, and on that flight, they gave out snacks. We could choose one of two options: a chocolate quinoa cookie, or a pack of caramel coated pretzels. Now, if you know me, unless it’s a desert island sort of situation, I will not be caught eating either a chocolatey quinoa cookie or a pack of caramel pretzels. So naturally, when the flight attendant arrived at my row, I went, “no thanks, I’m good”. Right? Wrong. You can take me out of Singapore you can’t take Singapore out of me. I instinctually went “quinoa cookie, please!” Why? Kiabo lor. I brought the cookie from Chicago to Maine and then to New York, where I decided it was getting absurd, enough is enough. I’ll eat it? No, I threw it away.
We are also Kiabor. Scared of wife. Fear of the missus. I won’t joke about that. Coz that one no joke.
But what the academic research discovered is being Kiasu and being Kiabo isn’t actually unique to Singaporean. It’s a global phenomenon, it’s embedded in human nature. The west has come to discover it in themselves, and we know it today as FOMO. Can’t afford to miss out guys, because as the kids like to say, you only YOLO once. Nah, I know that’s not what they say. They just say, YOLO, before engaging in some risky, short-term thinking activity.
It’s a long introduction to a simple point I wish to make:
We all live life fearing something;
the goal is to live life fearing the right thing.
Those who grew up in Sunday School are instinctively going, Ps Luwin, are you suggesting that we fear God?
Yes, but it’s not me suggesting that. It is Jesus himself who says it.
LUKE 12:4-7 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
But it’s gone out of fashion hasn’t it? Fearing God. Not least because of the promulgation of what we call “gentle-parenting”. A good parent, modern psychology tells us, will be a gentle parent. They will not inflict physical pain, nor cause emotional damage by causing a child to feel such things as guilt, shame, or fear. We are apparently meant to raise dictators. But that’s another topic for another time.
The zeitgeist would have us view God through the lens of modern psychology. And it goes like this. If God is our father, he must be a good father, and if he is good father, he is a gentle parent, and if he is a gentle parent, fear cannot be present in our relationship. Fear cannot be part of the equation of a healthy, loving, joyful relationship with God.
Really? Is that how relationships work?
Consider this fella. His name is Kirby. The family pet of Kian and Kianna. Cute, cuddly, extremely friendly. As a playmate, he’s perfect. All he ever wants to do is play. Eat and play, two passions in life. As a play mate, he’s perfect. As a guard dog? Hopeless. Every stranger that comes to the door, he wants to welcome them in. He’s like “Hey friend, never seen you in my life, but I like you already, come on in, do you want to play? Do you have a treat for me? Let’s play!” That’s what I imagine goes through his head.
But however friendly he may be, he is not this. He is not a stuffed toy. In fact, he is a member canine species, on account of the canines that they have. So we sometimes have to remind Kian and Kianna, “don’t get to rough with him, don’t put your face to close to him when he has a treat in his mouth, don’t do things that annoy him”.
In other words, have a right regard for his nature, have an appropriate fear of Kirby, and that would engender and enable and ensure that your relationship with him is as good as can be. Fearing Kirby is not about being terrified of him that puts distance between them and him, it’s about having a right regard towards him that strengthens the joy and intimacy they can have with him. You see, fear isn’t necessarily a destroyer of relationships; sometimes, it is a necessary ingredient for a healthy relationship.
I enjoy cooking, and Kian and Kianna would always want to “help me” in the kitchen. I told them I cooked my first dish at the age of 6. A sunny side up egg. So Kianna said she wanted to try cooking a sunny side up. So I said okay, and we placed the pan on the stove top, put on the fire, put in the oil, and we cracked the egg onto the pan. And it started sizzling, and as it happens when you fry an egg, a bit of oil will splatter. It happens. And a drop hit her arm, and she said, “wow, enough, I don’t want to cook anymore. No food is worth that sort of the pain that I’m experiencing.” Drama. But I told her, that’s what it means to cook.
In fact, I told her, it is the fear of fire, the fear of hot oil splashing, the fear of getting burnt, that is essential to my love for cooking, to my joy of cooking.
How so? Imagine if you had no fear of fire, no proper regard of fire, no heed to the nature and danger of fire. Each time you stepped into the kitchen, you would get burnt, hurt, scarred, because you are not taking the necessary precautions with the heat involved in cooking. Very quickly, you would hate cooking. You would dread cooking. Without a fear of fire, cooking would be a very painful experience. In other words, a right fear of fire facilitates one’s love for cooking, fear is a necessary ingredient in the kitchen if you wish to enjoy cooking.
Fear is not antithetical to love for a pet or joy of cooking.
So the author of Hebrews writes,
HEBREWS 12:28b-29 28b “and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe (which as the KJV also be translates it “fear”) 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
The fear of the Lord isn’t something to avoid in order to delight in the Lord. It is our fear of God that enables us to delight in our relationship with God, the consuming fire.
Hear how the prophet Isaiah describes the Messiah.
ISAIAH 11:2-3 2 “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
Fear and delight are not antithetical. A right fear, can, in fact, lead to delight.
Hear what Jesus says right after calling us to fear God.
LUKE 12:4-7 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
It is when you fear God, that you can “fear not” and bask in his goodness, and delight in his presence.
And with that, let’s get into the text. It opens like this:
GENESIS 21:22 22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.” 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
What is happening here? What is happening is Abimelech has come to develop a fear of God. He wants to make peace with Abraham because he wants to be at peace with God. See the motivation for his request – “God is with you in all that you do.”
And how did Abimelech come to fear God? Because when Abraham came into his land, he said that Sarah was his sister, and Abimelech took her.
GENESIS 20:3, 7 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
And when asked for an explanation for why Abraham had lied about Sarah, Abraham told Abimelech:
GENESIS 20:10-11 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
Well now there is a fear of God in this place. Both Abraham and Abimelech understand the fear of God, and a covenant of peace is to be made between these two God-fearers. But there is a hiccup to the plan.
GENESIS 21:25-29 25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”
Abimelech’s servants had annexed a well found on Abimelech’s land. When you don’t live in an era when you can simply turn on the tap and have water flow out, an argument about a well is not that that trivial, it is a matter of survival, and the confrontation could have been quite tense.
Abimelech denies knowledge of any wrongdoing, and see what Abraham does:
GENESIS 21:27 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”
GENESIS 21:30-32 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba.
Oftentimes, it is the aggrieved party, it is the party who has been wronged, the victim of injustice who would seek compensation and restitution before they would consider reconciliation, right?
This may be the case for the relational conflicts ongoing in your life today. Make it up to me first, then we see about making peace. Settle the score first, then we can talk about reconciliation.
See what Abraham does. He, the victim, the one who is wronged, becomes the one who takes the step of generosity which facilitates peace-making.
Abraham sacrificed his sheep and oxen and his seven ewe lambs to establish a covenant of peace, because there is “a fear of God in this place”. And that means pursuing a generous peace, sacrificially reconciling differences between God-fearers. Why? Because Abraham fears God even more than he fears losing out. We have seen this before in his interactions with the King of Sodom and with his nephew Lot.
But his greatest test of fearing God is yet to come.
GENESIS 22:1-2 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
After these things, after what things? The most significant things that have happened in Abraham’s life in recent years is the promise, the wait, and then finally the birth Issac, the promised heir to the covenant that God made with Abraham. Isaac is the chosen one, the one upon whom all of Abraham’s future hope and worldwide blessings hangs. Abraham’s only son, his future hope, his pride and joy.
2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
God says to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and sacrifice him to me.
What kind of test is this? A test must test something. What is God testing here?
GENESIS 22:1, 12 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
God is testing to see whether or not Abraham fears him as he should. Does Abraham fear God above the fear of losing Isaac, on whom he has placed his love and hope in life?
GENESIS 22:2 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Is it possible to love your money above loving God, such that you fear losing your wealth even more than Jesus? Yes, of course it is. Is it possible to love the world and its pleasures more than loving God, such that you fear losing the things, the comforts, the pleasures of the world more than you fear losing your relationship with Jesus? Of course it is possible. No doubt some of those in our sub-list today fall into that category. Is it possible to love your child more than you love God, such that you fear losing your child even more than losing your walk with God? Also, yes.
And the test for Abraham is whether or not his greatest love and joy and hope in this life is ultimately centred on Issac, or on the God who miraculously gave Issac to him.
Would Abraham be willing to give Isaac to the God who first gave Isaac to him? Does he fear, does he reverence, does he have a great enough regard for God to do so?
That’s the test. And how did Abraham fare?
GENESIS 22:3-5 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
Early in the morning, without dragging his feet, without hesitation or reluctance, he arose and went in obedience to God’s word.
He did tell the young men accompanying them, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
But don’t over romanticize Abraham’s words, as though Abraham knew beforehand that nothing is going to happen to Issac. Abraham, as we shall see, really intended to sacrifice, to kill, Isaac.
GENESIS 22:6-8 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
See what is in focus here: the wood, the knife, the fire. The logistics for the sacrifice. But where was the sacrifice?
There is that refrain: So they went both of them together. So they went both of them together.
In other words, it was just two of them, there was no one else. One of them is going to be the sacrifice. Did Abraham speak knowingly and prophetically when he told Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb?”
Unlikely, he probably responded that way simply to silence Isaac’s questioning. How do we know? Because at the altar, when the time came for the sacrifice, Abraham wasn’t frantically searching around the bushes for an animal; his blade was aimed at Isaac.
GENESIS 22:9-10 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But as the reader knows, this was a test. It was not a sacrificial ritual. It was a test, and the test had served its purpose.
GENESIS 22:11-12 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
GENESIS 22:13-14 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
That’s the story. Abraham was tested, and he was willing to make the greatest sacrifice, because he feared the Lord. What’s the application for us?
I put this statement to us at the beginning.
We all live life fearing something;
the goal is to live life fearing the right thing.
And we established that the right thing to fear is the Lord God himself.
So,
Do you fear the Lord?
How do you know?
What is the greatest possible sacrifice he could ask of you today?
My fear is that we have drawn a line; that we have set limits in our lives on what God can and cannot touch, what God can and cannot take, what God can and cannot be in control of in our lives.
We will sacrifice, we will give, we will worship. But on our terms. We set the rules, we draw the lines, we fix the limits.
We tell God, consciously or not, “All of this you can have, but not this. You can go so far, but no further than here. In other words, there is something, or someone, whom we fear more than God. There is something or someone in our lives that we fear losing more than God. There is something or someone in our lives, we will simply not sacrifice to God.
It could be your pride, your reputation at work. It could be your wealth and your dream holidays. It could be a resentment, an enemy you are unwilling to forgive. It could be a relationship that you simply cannot afford to lose, even if it is maintained at the expense of your relationship with Christ.
This passages asks of us, what is that one thing, perhaps that only thing, the thing that you love, that you are holding back from God?
And it asks us, what do you fear sacrificing to God? What do you fear would happen to you without it? What is that thing, and friends I want you to name it right now – that one thing or one person – or hearing this passage would all be in vain.
Sacrifice isn’t easy, especially if you’re Abraham and it’s Isaac you are called to give up. But it helps to fear God more greatly, if we knew him more truly.
And Abraham helps us with describing God.
GEN 21:33 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.
GEN 22:14 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
He is the Everlasting God who Provides. God always provides, now and forever.
But even Abraham did not have the privilege of knowing God the way we do this side of the Cross.
There is another story to Abraham’s story.
There was a father who brought his son, his only son, he beloved son, up a hill called Calvary to be slain as a sacrifice. This time, however, the son did not return. There was no ram caught in the thicket, for the son himself was the substitutionary lamb. Because the Father was true to the name Abraham knew him to be, “Jehovah Jireh” - the Lord who provides, and he has provided a propitiation for our sins, he has provided a means of atonement for our guilt, he has provided Jesus to save us from our sin.
God the father sent Jesus his son to die on the cross at Calvary, as a substitute for sinful human beings like you and me. Jesus came down to earth lived the perfect life we were supposed to live, and he went up to the cross to die the death we deserved to die.
God sacrificed his son, his only son, his son whom he loves, so that we can look upon the cross of Christ and say, “Now I know - not that God fears me - but now I know that God loves me”, for this is how we know love, not that we loved God, but God loved us and gave his son as a propitiation for our sins.
Oh friends, if this is the God we serve, why need we fear to sacrifice anything and everything he asks of us? His very name is Provider, not Receiver. His loving nature makes him a Giver, not a taker. He is our Father, not a robber. If he asks something from us, it is for our good to give it up. He means to bless us, not impoverish us.
When Kian and Kianna were younger, there was a period of time, when we would go out for dinner to restaurants, but they would to stick with their favourite few dishes, which they know and love. And by that I mean nuggets and fries. Italian restaurant, nuggets and fries. Steakhouse, nuggets and fries. Spanish Tapas, nuggets and fries. I mean, come on. And out of love for them, we would ask them, “Hey, why don’t you give up your nuggets and fries, we will order something better for you, it’s going to be nicer, more nutritious, more delicious, you going to like it, but you gotta give up your nuggets and fries, how about that?”
And they would kick up a fuss, “Oh, why can’t we have what we want, why always ordering what the adults want (yeah right), why you doing this to us?” Like we’re horrible parents or something, trying to take away their precious nuggets and fries. The fact is, nuggets and fries is the cheaper option, it works for us. We’re doing it out of love, but they have to trust us, and give up their beloved nuggets and fries, so we can give them more, and give them better.
It is the same with God!
Paul writes to the Christians in Rome asking them:
ROMANS 8:32 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Oh, if we only knew the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God for us, we would have a proper regard for his character, and we would fear withholding from him, not because he would punish us, but because knowing him, we would to fear losing out on the greater blessings he has in store for us, blessings that may be hindered by our fear of giving up what we think is good for us, foolish things that we love so dearly, our metaphorical nuggets and fries.
Oh if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
All things, my friends, all things! But how we love our nuggets and fries, greasy, salty, unhealthy, but we cling on to them and how we foolishly cherish them. How we so greatly fear having to forgo them, when all things are offered to us in Christ.
Do you know why I think the little episode of misunderstanding and peace-making between Abraham and Abimelech came just before this story of Abraham’s sacrifice under the umbrella idea of fearing God?
It seems such a trivial thing, doesn’t it. The fear of God which calls for a generous peace in order to resolve a conflict between two men.
It’s a disagreement over a well, it’s a trivial thing isn’t it, in the grand scheme of things; against the backdrop of Isaac’s sacrifice?
Yes, that’s the point. Consider the conflicts in your life right now, the arguments you can’t forget, the hurts you can’t move on from, the disagreements that abide in your relationships. Describe the issue, name is the hurt, identify the nature of the conflict.
And then hold it up at the foot of the cross, see Christ dying for your sins, behold the Son of God, your Lord and your God, giving up his breath, laying down his life to reconcile you to God and make peace with you and your brother.
If you and your adversary stood at the foot of cross, with the Lord Jesus bending his eye toward you, will the argument between you both still seem important enough to continue in his sacrificial presence? How trivial, how petty, how silly, will so many of our conflicts appear when cast against the backdrop of Calvary.
Yet we refuse to let go of the unhealthy nuggets and fries of resentment, and hatred, and bitterness, we continue to consume it, and allow it to consume us. Any if anyone asks us to let go of the hurt and forgive our enemy, it as though they are asking us for our very flesh, for how we love our pride, how we cherish our resentment, how we fear losing to our enemy if we forgive as we have been forgiven. As though forgiveness is an act that will cost us rather than free us. But how we fear exchanging our nuggets and fries for the feast of heaven.
Friends, whatever it is that you are withholding from God today out of fear of losing it, give it up. Live your life fearing the right thing – fear God and give up what he asks of us. He means to help us, not to harm us; he means to bless us and not hurt us, if he asks for our lives, it is only because he means to give us a new life, a better life and eternal life.
How do we know? Because of the Gospel. Because God did not spare his son, his only son, his beloved son, for us! Do you see?
1 JOHN 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
To what end?
JOHN 3:16 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is the ultimate fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant, which was obtained through Abraham’s faithfulness in fearing God, and through Abraham’s ultimate offspring Jesus Christ, who too was faithful in fearing his father, so much so that he would not withhold even the sacrifice of his own life.
GENESIS 22:15 15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
This is how fearing God concludes, my friends, it concludes with blessing. A blessing that reverses the curse of sin and to brings the promise of eternal life, of knowing Christ, to every tribe and tongue and nation and people, including kiasu Singaporeans like you and I.
Fear the Lord, fear losing him, fear displeasing him. And those of you who are not yet believers, fear him who is able to cast body and soul into eternal judgment. Fear being apart from him.
We all live life fearing something, let us fear the right thing - a God who loves us and gave up his beloved son, so that we might call him, Father. A father we can only truly know, and truly love, if we truly fear him.
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