Reverence is the posture of voluntary receptivity, an eagerness for everything about God. By virtue of our creation, all of us have a built-in hunger for God; humility and gratitude mean acknowledging that hunger and doing what is right about it.
There is no higher request we can make than to be filled with God. When we see this as the meaning of life — to be filled with God ourselves, and then to communicate Him to others — we can begin to fulfill the potential for which we were made.
It is remarkable that God offers to every one of us the possibility of walking with Him. No matter how badly we’ve wrecked our past, God is willing for us to walk with Him the rest of the way home, if we’ll accept His pardon on His terms.
To be the friends of God, through His Son Jesus Christ, is no passive or slothful thing. It is the active enjoyment of all the thoughts, words, and deeds that flow between those whose love is strong enough to govern their character and their conduct.
God gives us many gifts beyond our bare necessities. He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Our Maker is a God who takes delight in surprising us with the riches of His infinite goodness.
The decision to walk with God, disavowing any path except that of His will, is a choice of high and ancient wisdom, one that can be made even by the most lowly. Indeed, it seems to be the lowly, more often than the mighty, who recognize this wisdom.
We should be encouraged by the fact that God is gracious to those who take Him seriously. If we are willing to relate ourselves rightly to God, we need not doubt that a right relationship is what He gave His Son to make possible for us.
Oswald Chambers said, “Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him.” When darkness sets in and doubt makes its expected assault, we must not throw away the confidence that has been granted to us in the sunlight.
Given the death-dealing realities around us, it is hazardous to have a mind that is less than sober, girded for clear thinking and decisive action. But although the difficulties are real, they are not all that is real. May we not lose our bearings.
When the vigor of our religious impulse is powered by truth about God, something happens that is very fine. We can soar high enough to begin tasting the freedom that Jesus spoke of: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
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