MATTHEW 1:18-23 – Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). “
THEME OF THE DAY: DON’T LOSE THE AWE FACTOR. What reaction did we have as we read today’s scripture? Three were possible. First, we read it and just moved on without thought. We might call this “mindless, heartless reading of the scripture.” We also may have read it in a hurry, maybe skimming it. We might call this “rushed, mindless and heartless reading of the scripture.” The final possible reaction was being in a state of awe, even overwhelmingly worshipful, as the timeless truth of Jesus’ birth and what that means gripped our souls. We might call this an “awe-inspiring, mind-gripping, and heart-warming reading of the scripture.”
One of the easiest and deadliest things which may happen in the Christian life is to fall into a state of “spiritual familiarity”. We may define the term as consistently being exposed to the things of the Lord, but not engaging our hearts and minds which leads to dull and boring routines in the things of the Lord. Spiritual familiarity is basically going through the motions of Christianity. We faithfully go to church but leave our hearts and minds at home; we read our Bible but cannot remember five minutes after we finish what we read; we pray, but only from a list of wants, not a heart of worship. We simply just “do” the Christian life but lack heart, mind, and see little conformity into the image of Christ within us. These and other things are evidence we have lost the “awe factor” over who God is, what He has done, and the privilege to know Him. And to show just how easy we may lose this “awe factor”, again, go back and evaluate how we responded in reading today’s scripture.
Now the intent in today’s nugget is single; to make us aware of our need for God to keep us “wowed” or in awe of Him, His Son, and His Word. The more we see our need, the quicker we are to seek the Lord to fulfill our need. My wife, Joy, is reading a book written by Paul David Tripp titled, “Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say and Do”. A portion of the preface, written by the author, reads, “I wrote this book for me because I am aware that I need to spend more time gazing upon the beauty of the Lord. I need to put my heart in a place where it can once again be in awe of the grandeur of God that reaches far beyond the bounds of the most expressive words in the human vocabulary. I need awe of Him to recapture, refocus, and redirect my heart again and again. And I need to remember that the war for the awe of my heart still wages inside me.”
Dr. Tripp is not alone. We, too, fight a raging war to keep the “awe factor” of our God alive and well in our souls. If we don’t fight this war, spiritual familiarity will settle in and soon to follow will be spiritual indifference. But there is hope. God wants us to be in awe of Him. He knows it satisfies our souls, motivates us to love Him, drives us to holiness, and intensifies our desire to be in His Presence. And He will help us. Let’s seek His strength to help us not lose the awe factor and suffer from the saddest of spiritual conditions; spiritual familiarity with God’s truth instead of awe-inspiring spiritual worship from God’s truth.
PRAYER: “Father, please help me to maintain a child-like awe over Your amazing grace”
QUOTE: “Be always on guard of allowing the awe-inspiring truth of the Gospel to become ‘awe-less’ familiarity”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim