I asked some of our young adults how they have grown in their knowledge of God this past year… Here is one young lady’s response.
“Many of God’s attributes have been described in Psalm 145. He is the King who is greatly to be praised. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is good to all. He is a faithful provider and protector and He is righteous and holy.
While He is all that and much more, He is also a consuming fire. Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” When our hearts become divided and turn towards idols, our God who loves us so much, becomes angry and jealous. Jealous that we are going after other things, other than Him. In His love for us, He will consume all that is impure and unholy.
Hebrews 12: 29 reiterates, warning the Hebrews to worship God with reverence and awe. God’s holiness is the reason for His being a consuming fire and it burns up anything unholy, even half-hearted worship. Because of His great love for us, He will not allow any other worship besides Him. He will consume – as in burn up – anything unholy, consume, as in discipline and consume, as in destroy.
Knowing and understanding this on a deeper level, I have grown to revere Him more and worship Him in a serious manner. It’s no joke. I can’t pretend to be in worship while my mind is elsewhere. That would be half-hearted worship and idolatry.
As I come before God in worship and prayer, I have to remember who He is. He is a loving Father but He is also the Almighty, all powerful God, most holy and deserving of all reverence. Because of this knowledge of Him, my thought life has changed. I hold my thoughts captive and do not allow them to wander into worldly fantasies. My heart beats for the Lord. It is in my heart’s desire to glorify the Almighty God and put nothing above Him.
I have grown bolder to worship Him no matter what because He is worthy of all praise and glory.“
