Showing Reverence for God

Reverence for God is an important issue that is overlooked by many today. We seem to be stuck in the mindset that being "under grace not under law" gives us licence to worship and approach God anyway we like. Yes, God will accept us as we are, in other words, He will accept someone who is a sinner, but then that person who comes to Christ Jesus and lets Jesus rule their life WILL BE CHANGED, and will begin to see God for who He is and should begin to have great reverence for Him.

Now there are many Bible verses dealing with reverence for God, but we will see just a couple here which for me, give a perfect lesson on how we should approach our awesome Creator.

Isaiah 6:1-3 ...'In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.'

Here we have Isaiah in vision, seeing God sitting on His throne, and about Him are the seraphim angels. Do you see what the seraphim are doing? They are covering their faces with two of their wings. Why are they doing this? Because they are in the presence of a holy God, who is a "consuming fire". Now think about this, these seraphim are perfect, unfallen, powerful, angelic beings, and yet they show more reference for God than us mortal beings!

Revelation 7:11 ...'And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God.'

This is a worship scene in heaven. Does it look any different to the worship scene in your church? Does your church match the reverence for God shown above? In many churches today we have professing Christians dancing about, singing rock type music, talking about worldly stuff, and thinking they can come before God anyway they like. And yet in the scene above, we have unfallen, perfect heavenly beings, who FALL ON THEIR FACES before God to worship Him! Now either these angels are going a bit overboard on their worship to God, or we do not give God anywhere near enough reverence for Him. Personally, I would much rather follow the example of the angels.

O how I wish the churches of today would understand what a holy God we worship!

Jesus Christ had to leave His heavenly home and come to this wicked world, to be rejected, spat upon, beaten and crucified, in order to make us free from our past sins. How can you look at what He did for you and then turn around and say, "Oh I can worship Jesus anyway I like"? How can you see the price it cost our Saviour and say that?? Does He not deserve your VERY BEST? Does He not deserve your UTMOST respect?

Psalm 89:7 ...'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.'

Hebrews 12:28 ...'Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.'

We serve a holy God who deserves nothing short of complete reverence. Let's follow the example set out before us in His Word. Let's follow the example of the heavenly beings, who worship God in complete reverence, falling down on their faces before Him. It's time to humble yourself before God and worship God in spirit and in truth.

What a God we serve! There is none other like Him, and what a Saviour in Jesus Christ we have. Give Him your ALL, and give Him your very best!