Reverence to God

1. Love the LORD your GOD

2. Walk in HIS ways

3. Hold fast to HIM

These are the three things that Moses told the Israelites to do so God would go ahead of them into the promised land (Deuteronomy 11:22). If God were not ahead of them, the Israelites would have been destroyed and engulfed in a life of sin, practicing what the pagans practiced (as we see happens in the book of Judges). Living in today's world, we still need God to go ahead of us. Without Him leading us, we are defenceless to the world's ways and are quickly engulfed. Unfortunately, this is a huge reason why the church is starting to look so much like the world rather than Holy and set apart. So many Christians have "loved the Lord" but will not follow His ways, turn to Him in times of trouble, or give glory to Him in times of joy. To give God the reverence He deserves and to allow Him to go ahead of us, we need to follow all three of these points that Moses made to the Israelites shortly before his death.

1. Love the LORD your GOD

As a Christian, this one should be easy. If we do not love Him, why are we even calling ourselves Christians? In church, we sing about how much we love Him, and our prayers sometimes start with "God, we love you." Unfortunately, we can say we love Him and have empty words. When we think of those who love us, how do we know they love us? Is it the words they say or the actions they bring? I know I have been told I'm loved, and the words were hollow and held no meaning because there were no actions behind that word.

Love is not just a feeling that we get but an action. Feelings are sometimes wrong and can be manipulated. We are told that self-control is one of the fruits of having the Spirit. This means our emotions also need to be controlled. Just "feeling what we feel" isn't healthy because our feelings can lie to us, especially if we only have half the story. When we tell God we love Him, it cannot only be out of a feeling. When we say "I love you, God," it should be a promise to show it in the good and bad, in our sickness and health. Our love cannot be based on life circumstances but on our devotion to Him.

Of course, we do not get into heaven through our actions, but our actions do reveal how we truly feel about God. When we genuinely love Him, our actions will reflect that love.

That brings me to point number two:

2. Walk in HIS ways

When we love God and understand how wonderful and good He is, why wouldn't we want to walk on His path? But you may ask, "How can we know His path?" Thankfully, He gave us the Bible, jam-packed with His will for us! We just actually have to take the time to read it! Did you know that only 11% of people who say they are Christians have read the Bible? If we love Him, why wouldn't we want to read everything He has given us, all the wisdom He has given us? By reading His word (the Bible), we can understand His heart and learn how to act as those who follow Him. This is the action part of our love. When we love God, we will start to SEEK Him and His ways and act them out. We cannot be dormant in our actions.

3. Hold fast to HIM

When we seek Him, we start looking to Him in everything. We begin to ask Him what to do in every situation. We start to look to Him on our good days and cry out to Him on our bad days. We start letting Him direct our footsteps and lead us rather than us trying to pave the way ourselves. When we hold fast to God, it is like a child clinging to their parent. The child wants to tell their parents all that is good, and they come to their parents when all is bad. Holding fast does not mean abandoning Him when we think all is bad. It does not mean blaming Him for the bad that happens. It means running to Him in that bad because we know He is the great comforter and peace bringer.

Holding fast means remaining tightly secured, like a boat tied to the dock. If the boast lets go when everything is good, it will still drift away; it will just be a slower drift—holding fast means being continually tied to the one who is never changing, as we live in an ever-changing world.

Like the Israelites, we face the world every day, and we can choose to go ahead of God and make way for ourselves or let Him lead us. Moses regularly talked with God and met with Him. He was a great leader, but only because he let God go first. They did not make a move until God told them to. I don't know about you, but I want to be like that. I want to talk with God often and recognize His voice. I want Him to go ahead of me and show me the way so He can open and close doors before I even knew they existed! God is good, and He wants the best for us. Why would we want anything less than that?