Don't Forget Who We Worship

I know Jesus is our friend and we are privileged to have such an intimate relationship with him, but at the same time we can't afford to lose our reverence for Yahweh. There are times I think we have gone too far in trying to portray Jesus as "user friendly", bosom pal and life long friend. There is almost an irreverence about his name and our relationship with him. Sure, we worship but sometimes even our attitude toward that is carefree, almost flaky, as if Yahweh will accept whatever we have to offer. We need to remember who it is we worship.

Have you noticed that every time someone encountered an angel in the Old Testament they had the same reaction? Consider Joshua when he encountered the angel before his battle at Jericho:

And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15)

Everyone always ends up on their face. It is a normal, natural, automatic reaction when encountering the glory of Yahweh. And when Joshua did not show enough reverence, forgetting to remove his sandals, he was instructed to do so. In our effort to modernize we seem to be losing this reverence in favour of the "Santa Claus" mentality.

How we approach our God depends on how you see yourself in the relationship and in life. Joshua knew he was appointed to his position by Yahweh. He know that he was the leader of Yahweh's people. He knew he was a man under orders. He knew that none of this was for his pleasure but for the glory of his God and the prosperity of the people. In short, Joshua understood he was a servant under the command of Yahweh. As such, it was natural for him to hold his reason for living in great reverence because of all he represented to Joshua.

We may think we see ourselves this way but take a good look at your life. Why do you do the things you do? Are you living for Jesus, with everything in your life coming from that motivation? Is everything you do directed by the Spirit for the glory of the Father? Is your purpose to bring him glory by serving other people? Or is Jesus more a part-time thing, something you fit in when you have time in your busy day? Are your goals your goals and are they about you?

It may seem like an oversimplified thing but from my experience, when Jesus is your reason for breathing there is a natural reverence in the relationship but when you are your reason for living there is a lack of reverence. I have had many conversations with Jesus during my life and I noticed something about them. Any conversation where I remained standing or sitting I tended to walk away and do what I wanted to do. Any conversation where I ended up on my face I walked away to do my Master's will. The difference was my attitude in approaching the conversation. Is Jesus truly everything to you? You should be able to tell by the reverence you give to him.