What would you pay for a formula that would guarantee a blessed and happy life? What would you be willing to sacrifice or give up in your pursuit of that life? If I could promise you that if you followed this formula and taught it to your children, that they would be assured of this blessed life also, provided they followed the formula also?

Because I’m a generous sort, I won’t charge you a penny! This secret is not mine to sell, and it’s actually not a secret at all. God tells us many times over in His Word.

What’s the secret formula? Fear the Lord.

Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. (Psalm 112:1-2)

Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. (Psalm 66:16)

In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a foundation of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:26-27)

These are just three of many, many scriptures that promise a blessing, and a blessed life, for those who fear God. How different would our world look if parents taught their children the fear of the Lord?

To fear God is to respect and reverence Him as Creator. It is to recognize who He is, in all His holy and infinite attributes of righteousness, justice, holiness, as well as His love and mercy and grace. It is to accept and believe the truth of His word, and the gospel message. It is to live in such a way that we acknowledge ourselves as His creation, in need of redemption, and in response to His call and conviction.

What if we ourselves modeled it, and taught our children to make every decision in light of the fear of the Lord? To discover what pleases Him. To do what honors Him. To put aside anything that brings Him dishonor. What if we ourselves lived, and taught our children to live, a God-centered life, instead of one that centers on self, pursuing our hopes and dreams and aspirations without a thought for God?

What a different world this would be!

How simple life would become! How good and satisfying life would be!

I challenge you to look up some of the promises to those who fear the Lord, and then decide whose ways are best. Right now, in our world, in our country, in our cities, we are seeing the results of several generations who abandoned the fear of the Lord. We threw out the instruction manual, and now we are experiencing the consequences of putting our lives together without the Master’s plan. There is no fear of God or even the facade of reverence for Him. In fact, we are boldly proclaiming that we have no need of Him. We are reaping what we’ve sown.

Do you want social justice to prevail, for the poor and vulnerable to be cared for? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

Do you want racism to end? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

Do you want crime to go down? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

Do you want police brutality to be a thing of the past? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

Do you want sex trafficking to cease to exist? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

Do you want fairness and equality for all? Teach your children to fear the Lord.

The blessed life isn’t a secret. The blessed life is simply unattainable because people do not fear the Lord. Our fallen, human nature is showing. Our failures are revealing our rebellion against the only One who can fix our issues.

I don’t know about you, but I want the blessed life. I don’t want the sad and sorry imitation of life that comes from rejecting the One who designed this world and personally created me to live in it. I want the blessing of living in the fear of the Lord, blessings which are guaranteed both for this life, and the one to come.