fear to "do wrong"

Do you have a healthy fear of God?  Not a "I don't know what God's gonna do" attitude but a "I respect and trust God because He IS God" attitude? Proverbs 28:14 says "Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble."  As children of the Most High God, we should show our fear of God by not taking advantage of each other; by not gossiping under the guise of "venting"; by not wounding each other with our words.

I know I'm slacking off as a parent when my children are not afraid to lie to me or when sassy words consistently seep from their lips.  If I'm really doing my job, I'll implement a stiff consequence for their misbehavior so that they'll literally be afraid of a future consequence thus deterring future misbehavior.

Why do I do this?  Because I love them!  And the same is true with God.  As our loving Father, he graciously implements consequences when we violate his commands.  Not to be mean, but to assist us in complying in the future.

Don't want consequences?  Fear to "do wrong."