How is the fear of God a gift to us? Craig Houston explains in this video that while the fear of man ensnares us, the fear of God is a gift because it restrains us from sin. As a Christian, we don’t want to shipwreck our faith. Thankfully, God has given us His Spirit to help us resist sin. He also uses other means to restrain us from sinning. For instance, He gives us the covenant relationship with our spouse. Because we fear and love God and love our spouse and fear the heartache we could cause the one we love, we flee from sin - that is a restraining grace. In addition, our children act as a mirror in our lives when they display the same characteristics as their parents. Our failures will be destructive and hurtful to our children. The fear of God is brought to bear through our children. Fathers are accountable for them and to them. Numbers 14:18 (NKJV) – “The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.”

Just like the fear of man is a snare is a trap to do evil The fear of God is a gift in that it it restrains us from sin I think about scriptures that that our faith be made shipwreck and things of that nature, that as a father, as a husband, as a pastor, as a Christian, that I don't want my faith to be made shipwreck. And I think about how in love, God has given to us his spirit to live inside of us, to indwell us, to help us resist sin, to bring the fear of God to bear in our life. I think he uses other means as well. I think the covenant relationship that we have with our wife is it has boundaries, it has borders, and you can look at and say God's given to us the gift of marriage with boundaries, with borders, and because we fear God and because we love God, because we love our spouse and we fear the the heartache that we would cause the one we love, you know, that's a restraining work of God's grace and the fear of God. The fact that I have 12 children and a 13th on the way doesn't mean that because of that I'm going to live apart from sin.

I know that my failures will be destructive and hurtful towards them and I think that is the fear of the Lord that is brought to bear somewhat like in a mirror by seeing my children in those gifts that He's given to me and to recognize that I'm accountable to God for them and I'm accountable to them. You