Thursday, March 3, 2011

Knox - Afraid of God, or Fear of God?

SURELY THAT'S A VERY extraordinary thing, when you come to think what God is and what we are; that we should only want him to exist, now and again, for our convenience, instead of trying to realize that he is there all the time? That is what we are doing, you see, all of us; we are afraid of God, which is not at all what the Bible means by "fearing God". If we are to become better Christians, we have got to conquer that phobia, that shyness, as far as possible - we shall not get rid of it altogether. Shall I tell you what it reminds me of, this God-shy attitude of ours? It seems to me we are for all the world like some strange pet, a mongoose or something like that, which is only half-tamed. Come and meet it with a saucer in your hand, and it is all over you; the rest of the time, it runs away.

- Ronald Knox

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