Filled with Awe

They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. – Psalm 65:8

“Who is like You among the gods, O Lord?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in praises, working wonders? – Exodus 15:11

They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.” – Luke 5:26

Today our quest for new bloggers to highlight and encourage took us to the writing of Doreen Eager who lives in North Carolina. Her blog is Doreen Eager’s Blog, but she also reviews podcasts at The Godly Pod Review, about which she writes,  “My mission … is to help a weary Mom or Dad, who is hungry for God’s word, and wants to find Him in their daily lives but cannot find the time.”

Because what follows appeared just today, I’ve closed comments here so that by clicking the header which follows you can read this at her page and comment.

Awestruck by Jesus

The definition of Awestruck, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, is the state of being in awe. Awe, is an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred.

We all have things in this world that we enjoy, most would consider entertainment, or perhaps educational. Some love movies or TV, others prefer books or You Tube videos. I enjoy listening to Christian podcasts, it is one way that I can learn from other Christian leaders how they walk out their faith and interpret God’s will in their lives. It gives me context and at times allows me to ponder another way of looking at scripture.

When our outlook on people, who are considered to have a platform or are influential, becomes more than just respectful and moves toward being in awe, are we then turning these people into idols?

I follow many different Christian leaders; Beth Moore, Christine Caine, Annie Downs, Carey Neiuwhof, to name a few. If I am honest, which I am trying to be, if I ever had an instance where I could meet one of them in person, I would probably be nervous and a little fan girlish. I wonder if this is considered being in awe and if so I need to reexamine my thoughts of these people?

Jesus is worthy of being in awe of and we should be amazed at what He did for us some 2000 years ago. In Luke chapter 7 we see Jesus heal a widow’s son who died.

Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.  As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. Luke 7:11-17

We are so blessed to have a high priest that came down from heaven, that has feelings as we do, and took pity on this mother. What a glorious and amazing day for that mother. To this day Jesus does wonderful miracles; a new day arrives, a baby is born, an answered prayer for a new job, and the Holy Spirit in us to guide our decisions on this journey.

I am in awe anytime I sit and ponder what Jesus did for our sins. The suffering He endured, and the level of restraint He displayed while He was being tormented. He could have taken out all of the Romans and Pilate with one word but He chose to be obedient to God’s will. “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Doreen’s definition of awestruck is: Jesus.

Cheapening Spiritual Progress with Gifts

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
  Matthew 7:6

Earlier today at Thinking Out Loud, I wrote about the trend toward feeling obligated to purchase a gift for someone who is being baptized as a teen or adult, an obligation perhaps borrowed from our Catholic (Confirmation) or Jewish (Bar Mitzvah) friends.  In that context, today’s opening scripture verse may seem a little extreme, but I believe the verse applies to anything which might trivialize or reduce someone’s sincere (hopefully) spiritual steps with gift-ware.

I suspect the logic works like this: Family and friends have been invited to the church. They will have everyone over to their house afterwards. Food and beverages will be served. There will be laughter and celebration. That constitutes a party. Therefore, I must take a gift.

I am all for celebrating spiritual occasions. When the prodigal son’s father saw his son returning in the distance his heart was filled with joy:

^{Luke 15:20}“…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

The son begins his well-rehearsed admission of contrition and humility, but the father interrupts:

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

Sorrow and sadness
Turn into gladness.

But for many young people, a spiritual step that is marked with gifts — or even worse, cash — sends a mixed message. I know I have a very biased preference for books, but it seems like, if anything, a good time for a Bible handbook, a Bible dictionary or encyclopedia, or a copy of the scriptures in a novice-friendly translation.

Of the various youth-friendly, scripture-based things the gift-ware industry has created over the past decade, I’ve always liked the “Whatever” plaque from Abbey Press because it is a Bible quotation that is a good prescription for life for a young person.,

The text is based on Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

If a gift is absolutely necessary, that’s a sentiment I would endorse.

How else might we trivialize the things of God?  In looking back, I’ve referred to the “dogs” verse in Matthew twice before here.

One post dealt with several things at once:

• We can pray repetitiously, reciting memorized prayers without thinking of their meaning
• We can omit to pay proper reverence to the name of God
• We can fail to regard as sacred the writings of scripture and the books that contain them
• We can substitute subjective testimonies for actual Bible teaching
• We can discount the importance of committing some of the scriptures to memory
• We can have a rather casual approach to church services, small group meetings, etc.

In another post, I wrote about how as leaders, we can trivialize the importance of special times for The Church, using Good Friday as an example. We can neglect to immerse our congregations in His humility (washing the feet of The Twelve), his pain and sadness (showing how he would be betrayed and using the cup of sorrow in the Passover meal as example), and his anguish and suffering (at his trial, scourging, crucifixion and death.) For more of my thoughts on how might we ‘miss the moment’ on this particular day of all days, read this recent essay on the other blog.  In the two paragraphs that follow, I explain how we get to this conclusion from the opening verse:

Go Deeper: I should also say that there is much more going on in the ‘giving holy things to God’ and ‘giving pearls to pigs’ verse than what I’ve touched on in the three times it has come up here. While the verse seems to speak to all the things we’ve discussed, the context has to do with judging, but even there, this proverbial saying seems somewhat of an interjection and several Bible commentators skip over it altogether. In its most literal reading, the dogs and swine represent Gentiles, or by extension, unbelievers. It could be argued here that this is stating we are to judge within the family of God and not attempt to judge the world at large.

The broader application of this verse to mean “Don’t offer spiritual ‘pearls’ or things of great value to those who lack the understanding to absorb or process the meaning of them” is really being reversed to say, “Don’t take things which possess great meaning and value and expunge or excise (or we could say, diminish, depreciate or pejorate) all or some of that richness.

In the same Prodigal Son story we read in verse 10,

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

By all means celebrate. But don’t reduce someone’s pursuit of God and desire to live a set-apart life by offering something purchased only because you feel you had to.

We’ll close today with our opening verse as taken from The Message Bible, which seems to lean more to the way we’ve applied it here:

“Don’t be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don’t reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you’re only being cute and inviting sacrilege.