Reverence And Godly Fear

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29 KJV)

With reverence and godly fear; what a concept! God is who He is and He is much more than is often apparent when observing the life of the church. We forget that He gives life and He can take it away. (Job 1:21) He gave us the kingdom through the further gift of His Son. But, do we really want it? Or, is it the world that we desire? So often, the way things are done are done merely for expediency or to please individuals we think might benefit us or even the church. 

No one can benefit us as God has done! God gives us all things. Some of those things we may not appreciate as much as others; at least, not until He takes them away. Then they are missed. We ought not consider any gift from God as a trifling thing. The greatest gift that God has given us is the life of His Son through whom we have received God's grace; through whom we have received the kingdom. There is nothing more important in our lives than that. Will we respect and honor the gifts of God? Or, will we continue to strive after things of this world disrespecting the one true God who has given us so much? 

Saying, I believe, and not worshiping God with reverence and godly fear is no more than the devils do. (James 2:19) We should so fear and love God. What does this mean? It means we should honor him in all that we say and think and do. And, just because no man is capable of doing that perfectly; that does not mean that we should not live our lives striving to honor Him and glorify His name. 

God has given us so much. He can also take it away. He is God. Set aside the false gods. Let your ego die that Christ might live in and through you that our Father in heaven is served with reverence, love, and godly fear.

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Tongue

"All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." (James 3:7-8 NIV)

I visited the Jacksonville Zoo this week. The variety of animals that God has created is just mind-boggling. Some of them I had never heard of before seeing them.

The giraffe is such a graceful animal and apparently gentle as well. There was a long line of children waiting patiently to feed the giraffes. The giraffes would quickly and gently stick out their tongues and take the leafy food that the children were offering them. 

Human tongues are not also as graceful (grace-filled) or gentle. The human tongue can be as deadly as a poisonous snake as it can strike without warning to take anyone or anything that gets in its way down.

The human tongue is often used to lie, deceive, coerce, steal, and a multitude of other sins to get what the owner of that tongue wants. It is a very sad thing when we use what God has given us to destroy rather than to build up others. 

May God help us to use our tongues; the lips that He has given us to proclaim Good News to all people and to glorify His Holy Name.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Cursing The Name Of Jesus

Sunrise at Old Sheldon Church, Beaufort, SC

"Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit."  1 Corinth 12:1-3

I am not sure what to make of this. I have heard people profess that Jesus is their Lord; Jesus is their savior and the very next day they will be taking his name in vain, "cursing up a storm." So how is it that it might appear that they can be speaking by the Holy Spirit in one instance and definitely not the next? How quickly the tide can change!

We are all sinful human beings. We all are led astray from time to time. May God help us to stay in "His Way" so that we are not led by other spirits; by false idols, to take the name's Lord in vain; to curse the name of Jesus. May God help us to profess and glorify His Holy Name!

God's Peace - Pr. J