MY FATHER AND MY JUDGE

We are often reminded that there is a coming Judgment Day. Yes, that is true, but God also judges in the present tense. 1 Peter 1:17 says: "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."

In this Scripture God is described as both Father and Judge. He is our loving, approachable, compassionate Father, but He is also Judge. The judgment of God also reveals His love for us. If there was no judgment upon our lives, there would be no safety and we would end in destruction.

There are many folks who only want to know God in HIs love. There are others who only talk about the judgment of God. Both are wrong for we must embrace God as both loving Father and loving Judge. It is this understanding that causes us to walk in the fear of the Lord while we sojourn on this earth. We walk in fear before our Father because we do not want to hurt Him or displease Him. We walk in fear before Him as Judge because we know that sin is so hateful to Him that He had to send His beloved son to take the punishment we deserved because of our sin.

I had a beautiful relationship with my father as I grew up. My father had such great faith in me and believed in me. He believed I was great and wonderful and because I loved him, I couldn't bear to do anything that would displease him. This love for him kept me walking in purity as a young person. And yet I didn't miss out on judgment from my father. I was rather wild, rebellious in spirit, and independent. I received severe spankings, but never once did they hurt my relationship with my father. I knew I deserved everyone of them and they came out of his great love and concern for me.

Do we have this relationship with God? We walk in fear of displeasing Him. We walk in fear of being deceived and falling into sin because we know we are only human. Therefore we embrace Him as our Father and our Judge. Alexander Maclaren writes that this fear is. "A lowly consciousness of the heinousness of sin, and consequently a dread of offending the Divine holiness. He who thus fears, fears to sin more than anything else, and fears God so much that he fears nothing besides." He also writes: "The strongest needs to fear; the weakest, fearing, is safe. For such fearfulness is indispensable to safety . . . The only safety for any of us is ever to be on the watch, and to dread our own weakness."

F. B. Meyer writes about this fear: He says that it is "Not the fear of consequences to itself, but to the fear of grieving the Father, of bringing a shadow over His face, of missing any manifestation of His love and nearness to Himself, which may be granted to the obedient child. Love casts out fear, but it also begets it. There is nothing craven, or fretful, or depressing; but a tenderness of conscience which dreads the tiniest cloud on the inner sky, such as might overshadow for a single moment the clear shining of the Father's face."

May we, and our children, learn to walk in this kind of fear as we sojourn in this alien land.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell