Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2
“A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will
tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the
Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come
into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first
realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the
teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us.
If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off
our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with
which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His
presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to
God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. […] Jesus said,
“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). […]
…. the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a
man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.” Oswald Chambers, My
Utmost For His Highest
Are you familiar with the idiom “Coming with your hat in your
hand”? It means to approach someone “In
a meek or submissive manner. (The removal of one's hat is typically a gesture
of respect.)” Men used to tip their hat or
grab the brim and move it downward as a show of respect. Standing before God with our hats in our
hands is comparable to Moses removing his sandals because He was standing on
holy ground. When we come to worship, we may come just as we are, but we must
be careful that we are not prideful in our attitude toward God thinking He can
“take it or leave it”. You might be
thinking, “I would never do that?” Well,
my fear is that the fact is most of us refuse to remove our hats when we stand
before God. We might as well be doing through a McDonald’s drive through
ordering lunch.
Over the past 30 years, there has been a shift in how people dress
on Sunday morning. We no longer wear our
“Sunday go to meetin’ clothes”, but whatever we pull out of the closet. If a man wears a suit and tie to church
people might think he is going to preach.
You know that God judges the heart of man, not his outward
appearance. But very often the outward
appearance is a reflection of the heart.
Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t
think Moses had a suit and tie on when God interrupted his life … he had on
work clothes. This is not about
clothing. It’s about reverence. In times past, I am certain that many people
came to church “all dolled up”, “dressed to the nines” (I love those old
sayings) with sin in their heart, looking for recognition by men and not
God. What I am concerned about is that
we may have lost our awareness that we have come to worship a Holy God. When we approach Him, on any day, it must be
with an awareness that the only reason we have access to God is because of
Jesus and His sacrifice.
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything
is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not
have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have
one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let
us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:13-16
Jesus is our high priest making intercession for us before a holy
Creator God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us praying those things that are too
hard for us to pray. We cannot approach God on our own merit but only because
of the blood of Jesus. Let that settle in for a moment. The next time you pray .. read the Word of
God .. attend a worship service … maybe even take your next breath … keep that
in mind. He is the potter, we are the
clay. We are saved by grace through
faith and not works .. there is nothing we can take credit for. So take off your hat! Lose those shoes!
Believe it – walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the
glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
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