Revelation

I believe that our revelation of who God is as believers today is further than it has ever been. There is more than we could imagine, but we are further than we were. I remember growing up and being afraid to take communion without praying for an hour to forgive any sins I wasn't aware of. You'd condemn yourself if you took communion with sin in your heart.

Today, I believe God has revealed Himself as the utmost loving, caring, gracious and forgiving God. And He is. And now we've gone into a time of freedom. It's really great too. We can wear pants. Girls can wear makeup. I run with that last one too. I always say that I look like I rolled out of bed or am on my way to the club. It's cool. Do what you want as long as you can stand it. This is great too. It has personally allowed me to come light years in my relationship with God and my faith. It's a great place to be.

However, for myself, freedom can go too far. You can get to a place where everything you say and do comes with the disclaimer, "Well I'm free, so it's good." For myself, I had to have that, or the extent of that, reexamined in my life. I'm not "religious" either. I'm in a holy covenant with a Holy God. Something our pastor preached about at the beginning of this year was "living with the fear of the Lord," and it struck me. Not "fear" as in, "God scares me." It's living your life knowing that He is Holy, and I want everything I say and do to honor Him and to glorify Him. If He stopped thinking about me for one millisecond, I would simply cease to exist. HE IS HOLY.

I'm far from this way of living. I get careless, but I'm reminded that He's kept me from so much. I don't know if we can fathom how holy He really is. And to think how I've lived at times, even as a Christian, is scary. So, it's a work in progress, but it's amazing the scripture you find about the fear of the Lord. And it's not slavery either. Listen to what I read a few days ago.

Psalms 25:12-14
"Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.
The Lord confides in those who fear Him;
He makes His covenant known to them."

Read it again. Do you know what confide means? I looked it up.

to have confidence : TRUST
to show confidence by telling secrets

Those that fear the Lord will have the LORD'S confidence in THEM. He has things to say! And He's not telling them to just anyone. I usually think of myself confiding in God, but HIM in ME?! That's crazy! But it's true. All that we want or need we actually get by living in fear of the Lord. It's wild, but it's true.