Saturday, April 5, 2014

What does it mean to you to treat God casually? 516 - 7 - 7

Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Fear, H3374
יראה
yir'âh
yir-aw'
Feminine of H3373; fear (also used as infinitive); morally reverence: -  X dreadful, X exceedingly, fear (-fulness).
We serve an awesome and righteous God and I would suggest that treating God in a casual manner is more of a sin of omission than of commission. We just are not honoring God with the reverence due Him.
According to the online dictionary reference website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/casually
As an adjective casually:
  • Happening by chance; fortuitous: a casual meeting. 
  • Without definite or serious intention; careless or offhand; passing: a casual remark. 
  • Seeming or tending to be indifferent to what is happening; apathetic; unconcerned: a casual, nonchalant air. 
  • Appropriate for wear or use on informal occasions; not dressy: casual clothes; casual wear. 
  • Irregular; occasional: a casual visitor.
With thanks to CM and his commentary on the Book of Hebrews, there are Five Major Warnings presented. The fifth warning is against indifference and would be most applicable to casually.
• Drifting Hebrews 2:1-4
• Disobedience Hebrews 3:7-4:13
• Failing to Mature Hebrews 5:11-6:20
• Willful Sin Hebrews 10:26-39
• Indifference Hebrews 12:25-29Hebrews 12:25-29:
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Yes, our God is a consuming fire. He was the fire in the burning brush, the pillar of fire that kept the Egyptians at bay while the chosen people crossed the Red Sea parted by His breath, whose finger burnt the 10 Commandments into stone, was and is the Shekinah Glory that filled the temple, and so much more. God gives Job a lesson in the awesomeness of the Almighty’s power Starting in chapter 38.
I’m reminded of a series of commercials from decades ago, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” A prankster would try to put something over on Mother Nature and she would have vengeance. This would be somewhat akin to treating God casually. How much greater would the correction be from our Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God than from this mythical character.

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