January 23rd, 2025
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Charles Spurgeon once said that "all places are places of worship to a Christian. Wherever he is, he ought to be in a worshipping frame of mind." It is very much like our limited human brain to designate only certain places or events for real worship. We might believe that the first 25 minutes of the Sunday service is the appointed moment for worship and not anytime else. Or, we might be waiting for the perfect scheduled time in our day to feel good about worshipping the Lord. In either case, we have completely reduced glorifying Christ to nothing more than what is convenient and what meets our personal preference.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews speaks sharply to this relaxed attitude when it comes to true worship. He believes that our sincere praise of Jesus Christ shouldn't be measured against our feelings on a particular day or whether or not we have church this morning. He warns us to come to God with an acceptable form of worship, one that God would be most pleased with and delighted to receive. I am sure of this, the Lord would not desire for us to wait until Sunday morning each week to sincerely adore Him. He desires us to worship Him here and now. He desires reverence and awe from our hearts each and every moment.
Well, how can we shift away from this once a week kind of praise and move into a heart that glorifies Christ every chance we get? How can we worship the Lord with reverence and awe continually? The author of Hebrews provides the ultimate solution. We are to remember that our God is an all-consuming fire. Which is to say that the Lord our God is a jealous God. Jealous for our attention and yearning for our affection. The imagery here is of a raging fire that is intensified to the highest degree so as to completely and utterly consume all that we are. This speaks directly to the holiness of God and the seriousness of His wrath. His anger burns against those who worship and give attention to idols and created things. God is not sitting in heaven ignorant of what we choose to worship every day. His eyes scale across the entire earth and He sees in whole what we look at and adore. And the perfection of His holiness grows in fiery jealousy and demands our attention. I'm not sure we have even begun to think upon how deeply God cares about what we choose to worship.
The presence of God is not an experience we have to wait for. We can drop to our knees and fall face down before our King every day. The word "reverence" means to have deep respect for the Lord and to have a "holy caution" in how we render our lives to Him. How often is the name of Christ upon your mind throughout the day? Are you aware of His all-consuming presence in your life? Are you thankful for the small moments of grace and mercy He lovingly provides you? The word "awe" implies that a person is fearful and timid. It actually is used for those who behave in a cowardly manner. This is to say that when we approach the Lord we are to recognize how sinful we really are. That in some humble and contrite way, we are to recognize the sheer purity of Christ and the filthiness of our souls. We are to stand in awe of His amazing grace and wonder just how deeply our Father loves us. To worship in this way is to be bold enough to walk into His throne room while simultaneously realizing we do not deserve to be there. This is the wonder of worship. To fully realize how worthy our God is while also knowing how unworthy we really are.
I believe God is calling all of us to de-clutter our lives and purge our hearts from the idols we have made space for. In fact, none of us should be too busy to give Jesus Christ time in our day. Spend a few moments and reorganize your schedule. Instead of worship being delegated to Sunday morning, make it an every day occurrence. Our God is an all-consuming fire, a holy and jealous God. And He's patiently waiting for us to offer our hearts, our minds and our souls to Him. I pray you find some time to give glory and praise to Jesus Christ today.