Satan loves to fill our minds with doubts and fears. He reminds us of our perceived shortcomings and failures. If we listen long enough, these thoughts become debilitating and prevent us from carrying out the mission of Christ. Too often we fail to recognize Satan as the source of our destructive thought patterns. If we did, we wouldn’t lend them the credence that we do. The Bible tells us that Satan is “the accuser” (Revelation 12:10). Any time you have thoughts of not being good enough or you doubt your ability to accomplish something, those thoughts are from the devil himself. In the same way, when you are afraid, those feelings too are from Satan. God is one hundred percent love, and there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18).
When we are told to fear God in the Scriptures, what this means is to be aware of His holiness and the perfection of who He is. The fear of God is in our realization of how far we are from His plan for us. Said in another way, the fear of God is an understanding of His sinlessness while acknowledging our own sinfulness. It is not God who is to be feared but rather the consequences of not living in obedience to His commands.
What exactly is the consequence of straying from God’s path? It is separation from our Creator. Nothing could be more severe or painful for us, the created beings. We were envisioned and designed to be in relationship with God. Any deviation from that plan leaves us frustrated, empty, and with an aching hole deep within ourselves. Those who choose not to believe in the absolute trustworthiness of God’s character, the ones who reject that Jesus came to show us exactly what God is like, spend their lives in a futile search for something – anything – that will fill the emptiness.
As long as we have breath, there is always hope of restoring our relationship to God. But for those who die without having accepted His truth and acknowledging Jesus as the perfect Son of God, they will spend eternity without hope of ever re-establishing the one thing they need most – a relationship with their Creator.
As followers of Jesus, our relationship has been restored by the healing blood of Jesus. When He sacrificed His own life to demonstrate the character of God, He made a way for us to reconnect with our Creator. He did not come to condemn us (John 3:17), but rather to restore us. He didn’t come to accuse, but to love. From the beginning of time until this moment, God has loved us and pursued us. He has doggedly refused to give up on us, to surrender us to the consequence of our sinfulness. God desires only the best for us, and has equipped us to achieve it. While Satan screams accusations and judgments in our ear, Jesus gently whispers that He loves you; He believes in you, and He is here with you.
Don’t make the mistake of fearing what God will do to you. His intention is to rescue, not to doom. Fear instead the consequence of listening to the lies of Satan and going your own way. God loves you. He longs for you. You have nothing to fear.