words of love and warning

Recently my staff and I gathered to plan a service that will in some part deal with Jesus' words in Luke 12:1-7:

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

What an incredibly sharp contrast in that last paragraph.  On the one hand, Jesus says that we should be afraid - yep, that kind of afraid - of God... because of his power to send us to either heaven or hell after death.

And then what does he follow that command to be afraid up with? One of the most commonly used prooftexts when you see it in context - the "hairs on your head" metaphor about how much God knows and cares for us... followed up by a command not to be afraid.

I don't think that these two commands contradict.  I think they are both true, and have to be held in a logical and relational tension.  And for the purposes of this post, I don't think I want to spend any more time talking about how those are both true or how that tension works out.

What I do want to spend time on is this question:

What do we do with that?

Here's what I think:

I think we have to ask ourselves a few questions.

Here's the questions:

Am I attentive to God's words of love and care to me?

Am I attentive to God's words of warning to me?

Am I attentive to one type of God's words to me at the expense of the other?