The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the fear of God elicits the desire to persuade others to obtain same knowledge. For it is borne out of the love of God. The kind of love that compels us through conviction to share with others that which we have freely received. The conviction is that of the dead of Christ for all. A substitutionary death in place of everyone who, as a result of the human condition stood condemned to death. But Christ became that substitute, that none should die again because he took that death upon himself. That was the ‘payment’ for sin.
When we know that we who were supposed to die as a consequence of our sinful nature no longer stand condemned, that we no longer bear the guilt and consequences, it melts our hearts to the point of gratitude and honour and praise to the one who took our place, the one who bore it all, the one who suffered shame that we may not have to do so. Everything bad about us became everything that he took upon himself to give us everything good about himself. He was made sin (our sins) so that we may become his righteousness. So that we may imbibe or appropriate his goodness unto ourselves. Goodness is only found in him and that goodness he bestowed upon us when he reconciled us back to God by way of the cross. So that we no longer stand condemned but acquitted and not just acquitted but blessed with immeasurable blessings.
This is the kind of love and blessings that compels us to live not for ourselves but for him who died and was raised again 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. The question then becomes; what does he want from us? Or how do we live for him? Does it mean that we can no longer do what we please? Well, what he wants from us is the appreciation of his reconciliatory works. He wants us to have a full knowledge and understanding of the depth of love he has for us; it is this knowledge that brings about humility and submission to his dictates. Oh, so does it mean that he will now dictate for us how we live our lives. Yes… but his ways are simple, there are not difficult. In fact, it is to our advantage that he has asked us to live according to his dictates. Because, ordinarily we are selfish, we are arrogant, our heart is wicked and can contemplate all sorts of evil. But when we yield to him and follow his lead, we become transformed into his image, the image of the invisible God. We become a blessing not only to ourselves but to the world around us. It becomes easier to turn the other chick, it becomes easier to seek the good of other people, it becomes easier to live in peace with one another and to reconcile others to God.
Made Perfect In Weakness 