Who Do You Fear?

A couple of weeks ago me and two friends were talking and one of them brought up that it was a little weird to have cameras all over the church grounds the he goes to. He also said that when you enter the building you have to sign in at the front desk and get a visitors pass. On top of those things the school part of the building now has large fences that are always locked. All of these things that his church has done are for security reasons.
We live in an era of school, church, and university shootings. Because of this organizations spend a great deal of money to try and make sure that a shooting doesn't happen to them. We lived in Denver when the Columbine shootings took place. We had friends that were there that day, and had some girls from the school over to our apartment to make ribbons. Our eldest son was in kindergarten that day and the whole school that he attended was on lock down the whole day. We know first hand how tragic these things can be. And yet I wonder if the church should be different from other organizations when it comes to taking various security measures.
In Matthew 10:28 Jesus is speaking to his disciples as they are being sent out to preach and He says, "Don't fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell." Jesus knew that he was sending His disciples into areas and to people that would be hostile to them because of what they were going to be preaching. Jesus was encouring them by saying in effect get your priorities in order: don't fear people becuse they can only do so much, but God can do much more.
We no longer live in the fear of God. The website Foundations for Freedom defines the fear of God as, ..."that awesome reverence of the Lord deriving from being sensitive to His glorious, holy, and majestic Person resulting in respect and obedience." I am not sure how many Christians have a proper fear of God and one of the ways it shows is by the way we try to make ourselves feel secure. We spend an enormous amount of money and time on home security, car security, airport security, and now church security. I do believe that this shows that we are more fearful of people and what they might do to us, than of who God is.
I am not suggesting that we post signs on the roads that go past our churches or homes that say, "Come on in and kill us", but isn't it time that we draw a line in the sand and witness to the people of our communities that we will not be fearful of someone who walks in with a gun and kills our bodies? The fact of the matter is if this happens we get to go to Heaven sooner than what we thought we might.
Why do we seemingly cling to this world so much? We who are Christians, who believe in the birth, perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, have an eternal home in Heaven. We have a God that loves us and will never leave us high and dry. He forgives us of our sin, He has given us a planet that we can enjoy and a universe we can explore. He provides us with water, food, clothes, and the air we breath. He has provided salvation and a Heavenly home for us. What do we have to fear?
Oliver Cromwell said, "I've learned that when you fear God, you do not have any man to fear." The community of Amish believers in Pennsylvania that were tragically made the target of a man that went on a shooting rampage a couple of years ago is the best example of Cromwell's quote. They have taken no measures to make themselves feel more secure because they fear the Lord not people. The surrounding community and many other people outside of the community don't understand this. The Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania are being wittnesses to Cromwell's quote and Jesus' words. It's probably not easy for many of them, but they live without the security measures that we put too much faith in and the world has taken notice. We have a lot to learn from them.