Fearing God and Loving Others

If you fear God then that will have an impact on the way you treat people.

When I think about God in His holiness, His majestic power and His sure ability to bring justice, it restrains the sinful ways that I am sometimes tempted to respond to people.   After all, He has given clear commands to love others, to be patient and kind, to remember all the grace we have received from Christ in spite of all our sin, and to humbly accept and value others above ourselves.  When I lash out and respond in any unloving way to other people, I am really squaring off against God himself, and living out of step with the Gospel.  Wow!  I just wish I was thinking more intentionally about this when unexpected conflicts arise, and my pride and selfishness suddenly appear.  But I do see that the more I fix my eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the glorious Gospel of all He has done for me, the more growth I see in this area.  How gracious God is to forgive and keep leading us along even after when we digress....again.  Thank you, Lord!