While my time is short today (I speak once more this morning at this camp retreat) these verses are a good thought going into this. My desire is to lift us Jesus Christ and point to Him as God’s gift to us, and all that is in Him that makes up that wonderful gift. The warning today of spiritual danger is never to trivialize God.
After a section that speaks of persevering and of
accepting the discipline of the Lord, and a short reminder of His ability and
right to deal with us as He sees fit, the Scripture says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and
awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28–29)
Our God is a consuming fire. He consumes evil and goes
after my sinfulness with great patience, yet great persistence. Like a refiner,
He will not be satisfied until He sees His likeness reflected in me. If there
is a greater gift, I do not know it. Because of my sinfulness, this God has
every right to destroy me, but He does not. Instead, He called me into His
kingdom, a kingdom that cannot be destroyed. It is a perfect kingdom
established by a perfect King, and because it cannot be shaken, it must also
not be defiled. My sin must be purged thoroughly, even as it has been
thoroughly forgiven and atoned for, erased from the books of God and being
erased by the fire of His love.
Trivialize God? He never treats me as trivia and I am
nothing. How can I treat Him as anything less than totally incredible?
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