Reverence for the Father
I was blessed to be asked to speak this last weekend at the Cane Ridge Restoration Lectureship held at the North Lexington church of Christ in Lexington Kentucky. It was a great gathering of fellow Christians and the lessons were outstanding. The North Lexington congregation is to be praised for their planning and execution of this lectureship. The singing was outstanding and their hospitality was beyond measure.
The theme for the lectureship was “He Opened HIs Mouth and Spoke.” Of course, the text for the lessons all came from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Each speaker was assigned one of the Beatitudes and a passage later in the sermon that further explained that beatitude.
My assignment was the title of this post, “Reverence for the Father,” and my text was Matthew 5:6 which says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” My follow-up text was Matthew 6:5-18, commonly referred to as the Lord’s prayer or the model prayer.
The study for this lesson caused me to do a lot of thinking and soul searching about showing reverence for God, our Father. I came to the conclusion that we don’t really give much thought to this topic. We go about our everyday activities and give little thought to the Creator who made it all possible. We have our physical hunger and thirst taken care of by God who provided all of it, and we continue our lives enjoying the world around us, often without showing reverence for our Father, who gives us our daily blessings.
As I thought back on my life and considered the many blessings God has given me, I wondered if I truly reverenced the One who provided those blessings?
- Life itself is a blessing from God. Do I show reverence to Him for my life?
- My education is a blessing from God. Do I show reverence to Him for my ability to learn?
- My spiritual, faithful husband is a blessing from God. Do I show reverence to Him for my husband?
- My children and grandchildren are blessings from above. Do I show reverence to God for these wonderful blessings?
- The church is such a blessing from God. Do I show reverence to God for giving His only Son to make it possible for us to be part of His spiritual family?
When we assemble on the Lord’s Day to worship the Creator of us all, do we show reverence for the Father? Are our minds centered on seeing who is there and what they are wearing, or do we quietly and reverently focus our minds on the One who made it all possible?
I’m praying that the answers to all of these questions would simply be a resounding “thank YOU” for all of Your many blessings in life.
Let’s show our reverence for the Father by living faithful, thankful lives for Him.
“I bow down, and I worship you LORD.”
AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
