Fear or Fear?

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
 
DO you fear God, or do you fear God? Other ways to ask this question are, “Do you dread God, or do you worship God?” “Do you see God as Avenger, or do you see God as Righteous Father?”
   The Bible tells us that God was first a Righteous Father in his relationship with Adam and Eve. He created them. He taught them the right way to live. He gave them the pleasure of a beautiful garden and a joyous relationship with each other. Adam and Eve knew God. They loved him and loved one another. 
   Their perfect love had no room for dread or anxiety. Adam’s and Eve’s fear of God was a relationship that  honored him as a Righteous Father. The first couple worshiped God in spirit and in truth.
   Then their worship turned into dread. In their sin they hid from God. They suddenly saw God as Avenger. The man and woman were afraid of the judgment he promised if they broke his law: Genesis 2:17 “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Mankind died spiritually that day.
   But God is love. He began his plan to draw us back into the perfect love relationship that casts out all fear. The LORD made a way to refill our hearts with honor for our Righteous Father.
   God has decided to change our heats. We know he is alive in us, and we are alive in him. We believe in Jesus as Savior because God has granted us the knowledge. He is the Master, who shapes his creation to his desire. In perfect love, we have no fear of punishment. We live with confidence in his saving work because we know the depth of his sacrifice and the height of his resurrection. The Lord God’s perfect love has caused him to die for us, so we may now dwell in perfect love. We have what we need to dwell forever in heaven. 
   God’s perfect love casts out all fear of God’s judgment and covers us with the appropriate fear to honor him as our Righteous Father.