Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

You can be fearless in obeying God’s commandments. Good warriors are fearless because they know God has won and they are on the right side. This makes warriors fearless.

Thrill seekers are fearless. Some of the things they do seem insane to most of us. Those control fall glide suits where they sail past rock formations at high speeds would cause me to panic. Those people ignore cautions and despise any restrictions that might be imposed upon them. Base jumping is against the law almost everywhere.

The true object of fear of the Lord is not in obedience of command nor is it in listening to wisdom and instructions. The object of fear of the Lord is holiness.

God is loving and kind, understanding and forgiving. Many of us count on that as we live our daily lives because our primary goals in life makes holiness take a back seat to performance. How much would our lives change if we put holiness and integrity first in all we do?

We would be despised for His name sake for sure. The world would shun and shame us, in their view. What we could do however is be fearless in the presence of our God. Being holy in the presence of our Holy God removes all barriers and the purity of heart God rewards gladly without having to extend mercy and forgiveness first.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

Paul began this discourse with verse 20 where he said to the Jews he became a Jew. Here he became weak. Following this logic one might argue that Paul became a sinner in order to win sinners. Not so.

It was not that Paul changed at all, but rather he modified his speech in order to be understood clearly. We do not give up being a disciple of Christ, we must remain faithful to our calling. What we can and should do is modify our speech, not our behavior.

Do you know and use the Christianese language among your brothers and sisters in Christ? Probably, because they understand and it is a shortcut to many spiritual points. The lost do not have that framework of reference. It is a foreign language to them. Neither do you have to use guttural talk in their presence.

One of the more common complaints I hear from unbelievers is a belief they are being “talked down to”. Paul is encouraging us not to do that with the lost but rather find common speech that is neither offensive nor misleading. For many of us a fear of falling into old behaviors is at the forefront of our minds. If you lead with love, fear should not be in your mind. People understand when you are being genuine. Even if you are different, they tend to make room for you as long as you are not being fake.

Modified speech can be done without surrendering your identity in Christ.