NO FAVORITES

 

NO FAVORITES

I Peter 1:17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth.  NLT

       No matter who a person may be in the world or church, God treats all people the same.  He judges each of us by His holy standards.  He looks into the heart and determines the motives behind our actions.  He sees the extent to which we are righteous and holy.  He will not be swayed by what we do.  Instead, He will be swayed by why we do what we do.  His understanding of the heart is perfect and there will be no mistakes.

      God determines our judgment or rewards.  It is to Him alone that we will give an account.  It should therefore cause us to live in reverent fear of Him as we journey through this life.  This is the biggest problem most Christians have; we don’t live in reverent fear of God.  A proper attitude toward God involves many things.

      We have become too familiar with God.  We are more buddies than we are worshipers of Him.  We have lost our sense of awe of Him.  We have made Him more like one of us than the God He is.  We marvel at His handiwork, yet fail to worship Him as the creator of it all.  We have lost our sense of His holy nature.  Our worship is more of a performance or duty than it is an expression of our heart of love for Him.

       Our comfort with God has affected our sense of fear for Him.  We easily dismiss sinful behavior because we are not struck with the hatred God has for it because He is holy.  We no longer are under the law of God therefore we have become convinced that we won’t be judged for our sins because of grace.  We have accepted the fact that eternal life means that we will make it to heaven regardless of how we live on earth. 

       You cannot live in grace unless you have a reverent fear for God.  The will to not sin flows from our respect for God and our desire to please Him.  Reverence for God should stop us in our tracks when we are tempted to sin.  Grace can flourish only in the heart of those who are determined to be respectful to God and not sin against Him. 

      God shows no favoritism; he will judge all people justly.  He saves us and commands us to grow, go, and glow in the world.  He looks upon our living and judges the heart motives behind our living.  Are you living in reverent fear of our God?