With Reverence And Holy Fear

“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.” – Hebrews 12:28-29. 

Sometimes things change in our lives when we don’t really see the change happening. Things that were an exciting part of your life, have over time become just part of the day in and day out living? It seems the longer we are engaged in something, the more it becomes part of our life, the more likely that we are less excited over it; excitement dissipates with familiarity? And sometimes that includes the reverence and awe we have for God. 

Sometimes we need to ask ourselves a question: Am I truly serving and worshipping God with our lives with reverence and awe. Yes, we have a reverence for the Lord, but sometimes, we don’t have that sense of awe and wonder. We lose a sense of awe sometimes when we become familiar with something that it becomes commonplace, including our own faith in God. When we look at our Heavenly Father as we sometimes look at our earthly fathers as someone who pays the bills and lets us borrow the car, we have lost sight of who God is. In other words, we bring God down to our level.

It is hard to think of Jesus at our level when you read about Him in this passage of Scripture: “And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”

Though we have direct access to Him as His children, we ought never to forget that this access was purchased with the precious blood of His only Son. If we truly understand the cross, we will enter God’s presence with a sense of holy reverence and awe. No one who comprehends the incredible price paid at Calvary ever takes his relationship with God for granted.  

You will never find God manifesting His presence in an atmosphere where He is not revered. He will not come near or dwell in an environment where He is not held in awe, esteem, and respect. Psalm 89:7 (NKJV) says, “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.”

There is no One more worthy of our reverence and praise.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does reverence to God mean to you personally? 
2. How can we learn to be more intentional to show respect and reverence for God in this coming week(s)?