I enjoy statements that make me think. I especially like statements that seem wrong at first glance, until you think about them. For example, take this statement I read in a theology book: "We must fear God above all things because we may love Him above all things".

Isn't that backwards? I'd understand if love followed fear. We must love God lest He damn us to hell. But how does fear follow love? We love God for His sake. Why should we fear losing the opportunity to love Him? It's for Him anyway.

God explains why. He tells the priests that His warnings of shame and cursing are because of His covenant with them (Malachi 2:4). He yearns for a relationship of love, and not for His benefit, but all for theirs. God's covenant is ″a covenant of life and peace″ (v. 5). The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. It means both absence of conflict and satisfying success, both peace and prosperity. This promise is so central to God's covenant with Israel that Jews still greet one another with shalom aleichem, ″peace unto you.″

God presents each of us with a choice: will we live for ourselves, or will we die to ourselves and follow Jesus? It may seem paradoxical, but losing our lives for Jesus is the only way to find life (Matthew 16:24-25). When we give ourselves to Jesus, turning from sin and putting our faith in Him alone, we get our lives back. We can now exult in the freedom that only union with Christ can bring. As Jesus prayed, "this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent″ (John 17:3).

Our choice is between life and death, and life only comes from loving our triune God. And so God's covenant of life and peace calls for ″reverence″ and ″awe″ (Malachi 2:5). We must fear God because we may love Him. We fear God because loving Him is life, and we would die if He took our opportunity away.

It's natural to fear the people and the problems that have caused our predicament. It's normal to wake up in the middle of the night and worry about the many ways our problem may end badly. We'd be fools not to fear. But we'd be bigger fools if those fears weren't dwarfed by the far weightier fear of God. We can't control the outcome of our situation, but we can decide whether we will love God above all things. Let your fear that you won't drive you to Him.