"Peeling the Onion"

 "And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ." (John 1:20 KJV)

  "Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 KJV)

  As I was awoken this morning, around 1:30, I was given a portion of a Scripture, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." In a quest to find the truth, I had several different versions of that verse to choose from, all of which never moved from the meaning: "Fear." In the Old Testament writings there are 41 times the word is used as fear, and 4 times it is used as something even worse, like dreadful. In the way that it is expressed, as far as our understanding with God goes, we don't try to get away with anything with God, because we know that He is always watching! 

  There is nothing we can do or say that makes any more sense than that; it is what it is, so we must learn to live with it and understand what it is that makes us fear Him: We do not get away with anything! Now, if you wanted to know what this might have to do with anything about John 1:20, it is the simple truth of the matter at hand: Confession! If you want to have a good record, (no pun intended,) then you must, confess whatever, and deny not anything! 

  Just to be clear, the Ten Commandments were given to show us the bar: how high we needed to jump, and how far we come from achieving them, no matter how much we might practice. And, if you have some sort of weird illusion of have kept all ten of them, then you most likely have broken the first one without even knowing it, because only God is righteous and holy! 

  This is about John's record, as someone that did not try to lift himself up, or be someone that he was not; and especially not pretend that he was meant to be someone better than anyone else. He knew what he was and why he was called to do what he was doing: and he fearfully did what he was called to do! Which just so happens to be another way we can begin to understand what it means to fear the LORD: because like cheerfully shows we are glad to do something, fearfully shows we are blessed to do it! 

  As to the title, as odd as it might seem; we are not to be, or need to be afraid of our Heavenly Father: He is so madly in love with us, there is nothing we can ever do to cause Him to stop loving us! But, with a heavy heart, we must confess; every single layer of this onion hurts...

"Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, and in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant." (Psalms 111:1-5 KJV)