I am working through Jerry Bridges’ The Practice of Godliness (hereafter referred to as TPoG) with a couple of other ladies. I’m afraid this Bible study may be one of the most demanding I’ve ever been a part of, including the study of Revelation that took two years to complete. Many studies are geared toward teaching a doctrine or passing along some knowledge. Some writers want to help affect life-change with their studies, but even those studies aren’t all that difficult because the questions aren’t penetrating enough. This one is different. I am finding that these questions are really making me think and meditate and evaluate myself. Maybe I’ve just gotten so used to the fill-in-the-blank/watch a video style studies that my mind has gotten a bit lazy regarding studying my Bible.

Anyway, this was in my email this morning and it reminded me of the Bible study. From Elizabeth Eliot:

It is well that men should fear God when they have not yet learned to love him. It is the beginning. People who have loved him, even for a lifetime, do not lose but rather gain reverence and awe, even godly dread.

This fits very well with much of what Bridges writes in TPoG. He says, “Devotion is not an activity; it is an attitude toward God. This attitude is composed of three essential elements: the fear of God, the love of God, and the desire for God.”

Many mistakenly believe that once a person is a believer, then there is no reason to fear God. It is true that believers no longer fear God’s wrath, but it is not true that believers no longer fear God Himself. He is God. If you meet a Christian who does not have a healthy fear of God, it may be that that person does not know Him, or at the very least has not read his Bible enough. A growing, active knowledge of God–His character, His holiness, His glory–ought to cause a healthy fear in all men.

This reverent fear, based on a growing knowledge and understanding of who God is, as revealed in His Word, will be conspicuous in a believer’s life. It is evidence of true devotion to God. It is part of the definition of true godliness.

The first two lessons in this study have caused me to grieve over my lack of zeal for killing sin in my life. My acceptance of it is evidence of my lack of reverential fear and awe of God, and therefore, my lack of honest devotion to Him. This realization has shaken me. In my pride, I look at my devotion activity and want to believe that means something more than, or as good as, my devotion attitude, but I am learning that is not true. I will live out what I really believe about God. I know that I won’t achieve a place of sinlessness until I see Jesus. I am not seeking perfection outside of God’s grace. However, there exists a tension between living in the fear of God and living in His grace. As Paul said, God’s grace is not a license for sin. On the contrary, I want to have a mind that exalts God in His holiness and exalts God in His grace in order to produce such fear and such love in me that I am compelled to live a God-honoring life. All of this leaves me crying for more grace!! More grace!!

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. Jeremiah 32:40