He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him.
Proverbs 14:2

God’s Word is rather cut and dried in many matters. Proverbs 14:2 says that those who live “uprightly” do so out of fear of God. Conversely, those who live “perversely” (not uprightly) do so because instead of fearing the Lord, they despise (hate) Him! That is rather cut and dried.

Many would protest that how a person lives has little or nothing to do with their fear or hatred of God. The Bible says otherwise.

There are people who do not know the Lord in a saving manner who, nonetheless, live honest and respectable lives. Even non-Christians can be “God-fearing” in that limited sense. Whether these people acknowledge it or not, their relative uprightness is still due to consciences that are informed and influenced by a fear of God’s laws written in their hearts, even if they do not acknowledge the Lord. They may even claim to be atheists!

The other side of this coin is that those whose lives are not characterized by a desire to live uprightly, do on fact despise God—whether they admit that or not. Living willfully in opposition to God’s law is a matter of despising the God of those laws. People who insist that they do not hate God, but who nonetheless dismiss God and His laws, do so because they despise God, whether they do so actively or merely passively.

Let us remember Solomon’s conclusion of the matter in Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.” And let us be reminded also that “fearing God,” completely means trusting in Christ for salvation; and that those who trust in Christ for salvation are to obey God’s two top laws: “Love God and your neighbor.”