I came across a verse in my daily reading of the Word this week that caught my attention. I was reading from Hebrews 12: 28-29 - "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." In this chapter we've seen Jesus as the founder and perfecter of our faith; challenged in not growing weary with the hostility of sin and sinners or the discipline of the Lord; and then the passage shows us our inheritance of being a part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And, at the very end of all of this - talks about our acceptable worship.
Notice the two things about our acceptable worship - reverence and awe. The word denoting "reverence" is used some 13 times in scripture and the word "awe" some 15 times. According to the dictionary reverence is a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; the outward manifestation of this attitude; a gesture indicative of deep respect; to bow- which crosses into the Biblical meaning of worship. The meaning of the word "awe" - goes to an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, and healthy fear having to do with great power. Awe has the power to both inspire and restrain. Think a moment about the meanings of these words having to do with worship.
In our day and time the "awe" factor has been greatly accepted in worship practice, but unfortunately the "reverence" factor as been abused by many worship leaders indicating that reverence equals dead in the practice of worship. This is truly unfortunate. It is clear in this short passage that acceptable worship includes both reverence and awe. Let us think on those attitudes and feelings in our own practice of worshipping Him. mjm
