What you are afeared of - awe versus fear

Two different senses in the "fear your God" phrase from the Bible.

Evangelism means the belief and promotion of the Good News (Gospel accounts) of Jesus' life and what followed among the Apostles, including the many letters of Paul of Tarsus. By extension Evangelical churches and their congregations also emphasize the New Testament (also sometimes called 2nd testament) over the Old (first) Testament. However, at the present moment in USA among news media reports online and broadcast the political goals attributed to "Evangelicals" are contradictory. Most often this label is attached to social conservativism, rather than the model that Jesus demonstrated by humbly engaging with sinners, rather than to disregard or persecute them. And yet there sometimes are stories that feature self-identified Evangelical churches who stand up in defense of immigrant rights, homeless people, and others struggling under the tides of consumerism and capitalism, sometimes called "affluenza" (affluence as a kind of sickness).

This term, Evangelicals, can have diametrically opposed meanings --one sense is reactive to the Worldly culture and social change; it is driven by fear of people different and somehow threatening to the congregation's understanding of righteousness. The other sense is proactive to the Worldly culture and social change; it is driven by hope for people different to the congregation. In the same double-meaning sort of way, the concept of "fear your Lord" has been taken to mean opposing meanings, one is reactive and one is proactive. One is filled with dread and the other is filled with numinous thrill. The roots of the word 'enthusiasm' are 'filled with God' and that is the kind of awe that the Bible teaches for relating to God.

Meanings can shift in tone or texture, or indeed their main usage, from one generation to another and from one translation to another. But surely the LORD is something wild and made of power and glory, light and life; not dread and cowardice, reactive and bottled up like a small and controllable thing. So the next time that "fear the LORD, your God" comes into view or into hearing, be sure that AWE is what you understand by it so that you can feel the courage to reach out to "the least of these" instead of running for a hiding place.