Fear God Enough to Love Him

"... by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." Proverbs 16:6

If I truly fear God I will depart from evil. It is interesting that repentance (departing from evil) is the by-product of the fear of the Lord. Fearing God is commanded all throughout the Scriptures - Old and New Testaments - including Ecclesiastes 12:13, a verse that every God-fearing person on earth should know because of its bottom line, meat and potatoes, "net income" version of truth: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." The whole duty of man - everything that God expects me to do on this earth - is to fear Him, departing from evil being the by-product, and to obey Him.

What about love? Shouldn't I love God, too? That seems pretty important, what with Him loving me enough to send His only Son to die for me and all. I found that love is actually included in the Ecclesiastes passage, but only after some digging. This is the gem of Bible study: letting the Bible interpret itself. For example, the book of Revelation can be interpreted (for the most part) by reading other Scriptures and gaining knowledge about who the "Lamb" is, who the "Bride" is and others. Then, using those definitions found elsewhere in the Bible, you can go back to Revelation and define the "lamb" as being Jesus, the "bride" as the church, etc.

In the same way, I can define love for God as obeying Him. How? 1 John 5:3 says, "Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome." Right here the definition of loving God is found: obedience to Him. So, apply this definition to the Ecclesiastes passage, and you get: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and [love Him], for this is the whole duty of man."

So, to recap... From the fear of God, I will depart from evil. Departing from evil is a command from God. If I obey this command, it means I love Him (1 John 5:3). So, do I fear God enough to love Him?