Are you afraid of what’s happening in the world today? Focus more on fearing God.
Maybe that’s a somewhat simplistic way of restating the thesis to Michael Horton’s latest book, Recovering Our Sanity: How the Fear of God Conquers the Fears that Divide Us (Zondervan). Horton argues that we can only conquer the wrong kinds of fear by embracing the right kind of fear, and that’s what he means by sanity. It means living with the grain of reality. Horton writes:
The real world is the one in which the triune God is the central character in nature and history, and the illusion is that we’re in charge. It’s autonomy that is the myth—and the sooner we raise our eyes to heaven, the sooner our sanity will be restored.
Some readers might be surprised that Horton commends revival—at least until they see what he means. For Horton, revival breaks out when Christians show up to church and hear from God and his Word. It’s so simple, and that’s his point. We don’t need spectacular miracles; we need basic obedience. With basic obedience, Christians will have something different and compelling to offer a fearful, anxious world.
Michael Horton joins me on Gospelbound to discuss preaching and practicing, hating and fearing, persecution and apostasy, among other serious topics.
The Gospel Coalition