Let Fear Be Your Guide

I once got the rare opportunity to drive a race car on a real race track. It was a customer relations event where I was allowed to drive the car on my own with only a few other cars on the track that was over 2 miles long. A friend of mine used to drive races cars for a living and he was helping me tighten the belts. Right before I drove off to run some laps, I asked him, “Got any last words of wisdom?” He said, “Let fear be your guide” then smiled. What a wonderful thing to hear!

Recently, I got to thinking about how fear as a guide is a relative term. Some people jump out of airplanes but I just don’t think I could do that. Why? Because of fear. But I could drive a race car at nearly 200 mph. I also ride motorcycles. Some people would never do that because of fear. So fear is a relative governor for each of us. It then hit me how much this relative fear has changed over the years. There seem to be fewer and fewer people who fear the long arm of the law. Fewer students fear the principal in their schools. Fewer kids fear their parents or have fewer parents to fear and fewer people fear the embarrassment associated with the exposure of their sins. This last one is the key to our society.

I am sure if you like to think ahead like I do, you might think that I am going to say that our society has made many things ok that were one considered to be secrets you would never tell. I remember as a kid hearing about a couple who got divorced back in the early 70’s. It was talked about very quietly and those two people both seem to disappear from the radar. They were embarrassed enough to go find a new set of friends that didn’t know what they had just done.

But that is not where I am going with this. The embarrassment someone feels when their sin is revealed is based on fear of exclusion and judgment from people on earth. I don’t fear that form of embarrassment because I am not fearful of being excluded due to someone’s judgment of me. My fear is exclusion from God and my sin is between Him and me only. Everyone who has read the bible knows that sin is always accompanied by some form of consequence. My fear is of the consequences which then drives my behavior. The consequence I fear is distance from God and being removed from his protection. I have actually led a more honorable life since I truly began to fear being removed from God’s favor and protection.

It is my belief that society has done everything they can to avoid judgment of their sins. Instead of stopping the sin, they remove the method of judgment of that sin. Many people who don’t want there to be any consequences of their sin will reject God with all they have. They will seek to legalize their sin. In all or parts of this country, it is legal to commit adultery, divorce, marry someone of the same sex and lie (while not under oath). It is almost predictable what will happen to us (the country) as we distance ourselves from any moral compass.