Do you fear God?
Jewish synagogues dotted the cities throughout the Roman empire during the first century A.D. Amidst the polytheistic, pagan culture around them, they declared a monotheistic theology – worship of the one true God, vs. the worship of many gods (who weren’t really gods at all). A number of Gentile (non-Jew) men and women, intrigued by these Jewish worshipers, would visit the synagogues and practice the Jewish rites and rituals. These people were known in those days as “God-fearers”.
But it wasn’t until the gospel of Jesus Christ began spreading throughout the Greco-Roman world that at least a few of these “God-fearers” understood what it meant to have a personal relationship with the God that had so arrested their attention. It is then that they began to truly worship.
One of these men was Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian Regiment. A Gentile (non-Jew), Cornelius was known throughout the region of Caesarea as a very generous man, giving to people in need and even praying regularly to God (see Acts 10:2). His heart must have been prime to receive the gospel, because after a series of divine revelations, the apostle Peter was urged to go to Cornelius’s home and deliver the message of salvation. You can almost hear the eagerness in Cornelius’s voice when he declares to Peter, “Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us” (Acts 10:33). As Peter shared about Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit filled everyone in the room that day.
What a beautiful thing to see a person who is longing for truth. Someone who hears about God or looks at the beauty and complexity of nature and knows there is a God. And in so knowing, he or she also realizes that this Creator is worthy of worship – of fearing, or respecting. It’s a seed that is planted, and God makes it grow.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).
Life is a vapor, and void of any meaning until we begin to look up – until we respond to God’s revelation of Himself with glory and awe, and to His majesty with honor and worship. As a vassal to a king, we properly submit to Him and cast ourselves before Him in search of mercy and undeserved grace…and He freely gives it to us out of His perfect love. Perfect love, by the way, that casts out fear (1 John 4:18). We can trust that God, in His mighty power over sin and death, has graciously made a way for those who turn to Him for the only way to salvation, to boldly approach His throne and one day enter Heaven to live with Him forevermore.
Extra Second Inc. is focused on helping others, through the avenue of inspirational stories and messages, be rooted in this first and foremost posture before our Creator. If this vertical relationship isn’t right, no horizontal one will be either. The world may tell you that our strength and hope lies inward – in our own fortitude and sense of morality – but we are completely incapable of doing what’s good and right without the One who made all things good (Genesis 1) and from whom comes every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).
Therefore, our attention must be like the God-fearers, who broke from culture – maybe even their families – to follow the call and draw of their Creator.
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:4-5).
Our lives are in God’s hands. He has offered us a way of salvation through Jesus Christ. What we do with that offer will determine our eternal state. That should cause us to fear, to tremble, and to seriously contemplate why we believe what we believe, and what will happen if we choose to reject our Creator’s great extension of grace to each one of us.