Below is an example of how the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is both practical and pastoral.
Chesterton's quote "We fear men so much because we fear God so little. One fear cures another," is true, for all I understand. I remember reading a whole book on this subject called "When People are Big and God is Small." I was desperate to find a solution to what I was painfully experiencing, which some had diagnosed (and which I self-diagnosed from reading too many internet articles) as "fear of man."
I remember as I began reading the book, I was excited. Many things written in the book resonated with me, and I had some hope. But as I approached the end of the book, my countenance and hope had fallen. Why? In retrospect, I believe it's because though I had hoped for a solution, something I can do to change this, to free myself, and the truth is that the book was long on diagnosis and very short on a useful prescriptive for solving this painful vice. But what my heart experiences ultimately as discouragement I believe can be traced back to a failure to distinguish between Law and Gospel.
When I look at this Chesterton quote, I'm reminded of something important. My first instinct it to take this, agree with it, and try so hard to fear God more. Why wouldn't I? After all, I shouldn't look at that and think, "Meh, I don't need to fear God." Of course I do!
Should I fear God more? Definitely. Should I fear them more than people? Certainly. Is it true that if I feared God more... if I loved Him more and only cared about what He thought of me... that my fear of man would shrink to non-existence? Yes, I believe that is true.
But a number of things come up when I take this to be a prescription to solve my problem. The most obvious question that confronts me is, "Can I do this? Can I change my own heart to love God and fear Him more?" I confess that I can't. I can try, and I have. I can implement lots of disciplines and try different techniques. But I can't fix my heart.
That leads me to the second observation. When I take this Law as prescription, something for me to try my hardest to do and change in myself, something fundamentally changes about my relationship to it. It now becomes something I try to do in order to gain benefit for myself, to alleviate my struggle, to feel better. In a weird kind of catch-22, trying to keep this law to fear God nullifies the heart of what it actually means to fear Him, which is to love and find Him beautiful in Himself, to be satisfied and fulfilled in Him for Himself, apart from any other benefit He could give me in exchange. If I try to keep it to avoid punishment or gain His favor, I'm not trying to keep it for the sake of just loving Him. If I try to keep it to alleviate my painful symptoms of fearing man, it's not about adoring Him, either. In both situations, taking the requirement of the Law as prescriptive changes everything.
This is why Law is not a problem-solver. I'm not saying there are not practical things that can be done to improve our earthly situations. I'm saying that at the most fundamental heart level, this Law only meant to show me one thing... how utterly incapable I am to fulfill what it rightly requires and how utterly incapable I am to change myself into a person who does. It is not supposed to lead me to my own resources except to see how dead they are.
What I need is to hear so fully what it is to fear God and to see my true estate so that I despair of myself. What I need is for this Law to do its work on me, to show me how dull and loveless and earthly-minded I am so that I would go to the Lord -who already knows all of this about me- for His mercy and forgiveness and understand that in Him I am beloved though I am such an idolater. This is what breaks the chains. This is how we live not according to Law but according to grace.
Should I still endeavor to make decisions based on what it would look like to fear God over man? Definitely. But ultimately I cannot make myself embody what it is to fear God over man in the heart. And that reality is not meant to send me back upon my own efforts but to exhaust them to where I realized what I really need is someone to save me.
Lord, thank You that though my fear of You is so weak, my love for You so dully, my perception of Your favor and Your eye over my life is so shallow, You know this about me and forgive me. You gave your life, knowing this about me. Save me from these sins and weaknesses, and may the story of Your grace to me in this call others to You.
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