The Doctor: Reverence is Not Bondage

The reconciliation of the apparent contradiction lies in the difference between respect and fear.  When you respect a person you do not fear that person.  What you fear is that you may do something that displease him, and that, not because you feat that he may punish you, but sometimes  even because you may feel that, because he is who and what he is, he will not punish you!  Reverence is ultimately based upon love, it is the recognition of this greatness of the privilege of being allowed to approach God.  There is nothing craven about that; there is not torment in it; there is no bondage in it.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 7, p. 224