Fear
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” says Proverbs 9:10. What is this fear? It is not just a trembling concern for the prospect of God’s retribution. Maybe it is not this at all.
The Lord deliberately made you (Psalm 139:13-16). He places particular desires within your heart (Psalm 37:4). He sets captives free (Luke 4:18).
To take up this freedom ought to bring boldness. To seek the heart’s own desire within a life made by God ought to bring joy. The beginning of fearing the Lord, and perhaps the middle and the end of it as well, is to stop fearing other things.