As fathers, we should pray that God will help us train our children to be respectful and reverential towards the amazing grace of God. The grace of God was never meant to be taken lightly, flippantly, or in a casual manner. This grace that God liberally showered upon us in Jesus Christ is not to be cheapened by our worldly, disrespectful attitudes.
We must never forget the enormous price Jesus paid for our sin by His atoning blood. This grace, “wherein we stand” cost Heaven everything. How dare we bring despite to the Spirit of grace by our failure to be awestruck by its magnitude and glory?
Hebrews 10:29-31 says: “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
We must not allow the irreverent spirit that pervades our present world to creep into our own hearts and those of our families. We serve a very great God who is the greatest of all Gods. He is the “only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). There is no dignity or majesty that can compare to His glory.
When we fathers conduct family devotions with our families, we must be reverent and honorable as we talk about our great God. We should be joyful, but at the same time fearful. We never want to cheapen the great treasures of His grace.
Hebrews 12:15-17 says: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
We do not want our children to grow up like Esau, who was a fornicator and a profane person. The word “profane” means “heathenish, wicked, to defile the holy things of God as did King Belshazzar (Daniel 5:2-28)”.
We are exhorted in Psalm 2:11 to “rejoice with trembling.”
Philippians 2;12: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
1 Peter 1:17: “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”
2 Corinthians 7:1: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’
Hebrews 12:28, 29: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.”
Be encouraged,
Colin Campbell