Love and Fear

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Right. We all know that. Lately, however, I have been seeing a few more layers to this onion.
I mentioned earlier that I wanted to tell you about something I have been reading, so Here you go! I am reading "He loves Me", a lovely little book by Wayne Jacobsen. It is a small book, but so dense that it takes some time to read. I can only read a few pages before I need to stop and digest for a while. Well, lucky for you, part of my process is writting out how and what I am thinking, so you may hear alot more about this book.
Back to the Fear of the Lord... You might notice that the text says "is the BEGINNING of wisdom". Well, it is not the end. (suprise!) In the tenth chapter of this book, Jacobsen delves into the end product...Love. The end of wisdom is LOVE.
...Let me just read some of it to you...

"If you don't love God, you would be well served to fear Him. At least that might keep you from behavior that would destroy you and others around you. But once you know how much He loves you, you need never fear Him again. In other words, this Father doesn't just seek your obedience, He desires your affection. He can have your obedience without your love, but He knows where He has your love, He will also have your obedience." (I love that part)

Now I bet some of you are getting concerned, oh no, she is drifting off into that "lovey dovey there-is-no-hell 'cause God loves us" nonsense. Well relax, I'm not.

But lets look a little further at the whole Fear thing...
"Fearing God can compell us to conform our behavior to His desires, but it will not last. Because it convinces us to act against our will, even when it leads us to righteousness, it does not change us. The behavior that results lasts only as long as the fear itself, which is why those who approach it this way will need greater levels of fear to stay motivated. God knows that responding to His love will take you much further than fear ever could. "Perfect love drives out fear" John continued. While fear may be the most powerful motivator known to man, Gods love is more powerfull still and in the face of it our fears are swallowed up in Him. Love displaces fear the same way light displaces darkness."
I John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love"

Good stuff, huh? Also on my mind is the idea of our almost subconsious efforts to DO what we should to be a good Christian. Is our relationship with the Father any result of our own doing? ...ok I will save that one for next time. Goodnight world.