In yesterday's Bible reading this quote made me think a bit:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the athick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18-21, English Standard Version)

"...that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." Basically, God will do whatever it takes "that [we] may not sin" and I fear that the vast majority of us could use a good scaring right now. Of course God, in the form of His Son, offered a different approach:

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

Fear or friendship? Which do you want? Of course, it isn't a friendship of equals...it is a friendship with people who "know what [their] master is doing"...which means they also know who their Master is...and have trust (have faith) in their Master. It is a relationship where the created worships the Creator because they know the Creator deserves it. If you don't realize how "little" you are (in every respect) to God, then you probably need to spend some significant time at the foot of Sinai, developing a good fear of Him so that someday you can grow from a servant to a friend and "know what [your] master is doing."