Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13
Now that seems pretty short and direct eh? Some might even take offense to the directness of that verse! I mean come on, it's said with such abruptness and finality. It's like the writer assumes knowledge of the whole meaning of Life. Besides... it can't be that simple.... OH but it is!!!!!
Fear has two connotations in da Word that I know of. One is genuine outright fear -- you know the type that gets you trembling in your shoes. The other means reverence or respect. When it comes to Pops, it's good to have both! For one, you compared to God.... man that's like an ant compared to a fully adult human being. And even THAT analogy is so far from the real gap between us and God. If an ant knew fear, it would definitely be QUAKIN' once the mere shadow of a human came across. We gotta have that kind of fear when we think o' Pops. It helps to check our egos, ground us, and bring us back into the real perspective of the extraordinary nature of God versus our own.
But we also gotta have the fear that means reverence and respect. The more we have of this fear, the less we have of the former. Reverence and respect replace a feeling of terror. See, in reverence and respect we have no reason to be afraid. By revering and respecting we acknowledge the gap, in fact we are in awe of it! We seek to close the gap by turning God into one of our role models.
And checkit, fearing God in these senses leads us to obeying his commandments! See how easily these things just flow? One leads to another which leads to another? It's straight SIMPLE kid! The KISS principle in full effect. Gradually turning from being afraid toward reverence leads us toward obeying commandments no longer out of fear for consequences but out of desire to demonstrate reverence and respect through action. In fact, we begin to realize the profound nature of the commandments. Cuz people, those commandments weren't made for God, they were made to aid us in protecting ourselves from our very selves! These commandments in fact free us to truly live.
So what's the word? KISS. Fear Pops and obey his commandments. Everything else falls into place as a result for doing these simple things will transform our very souls and desires. Selfishness will fall by the wayside and the true outpouring of love will replace it. And then, my friends, you will know joy.
G-bless,
- patrick
!
Now that seems pretty short and direct eh? Some might even take offense to the directness of that verse! I mean come on, it's said with such abruptness and finality. It's like the writer assumes knowledge of the whole meaning of Life. Besides... it can't be that simple.... OH but it is!!!!!
Fear has two connotations in da Word that I know of. One is genuine outright fear -- you know the type that gets you trembling in your shoes. The other means reverence or respect. When it comes to Pops, it's good to have both! For one, you compared to God.... man that's like an ant compared to a fully adult human being. And even THAT analogy is so far from the real gap between us and God. If an ant knew fear, it would definitely be QUAKIN' once the mere shadow of a human came across. We gotta have that kind of fear when we think o' Pops. It helps to check our egos, ground us, and bring us back into the real perspective of the extraordinary nature of God versus our own.
But we also gotta have the fear that means reverence and respect. The more we have of this fear, the less we have of the former. Reverence and respect replace a feeling of terror. See, in reverence and respect we have no reason to be afraid. By revering and respecting we acknowledge the gap, in fact we are in awe of it! We seek to close the gap by turning God into one of our role models.
And checkit, fearing God in these senses leads us to obeying his commandments! See how easily these things just flow? One leads to another which leads to another? It's straight SIMPLE kid! The KISS principle in full effect. Gradually turning from being afraid toward reverence leads us toward obeying commandments no longer out of fear for consequences but out of desire to demonstrate reverence and respect through action. In fact, we begin to realize the profound nature of the commandments. Cuz people, those commandments weren't made for God, they were made to aid us in protecting ourselves from our very selves! These commandments in fact free us to truly live.
So what's the word? KISS. Fear Pops and obey his commandments. Everything else falls into place as a result for doing these simple things will transform our very souls and desires. Selfishness will fall by the wayside and the true outpouring of love will replace it. And then, my friends, you will know joy.
G-bless,
- patrick
!
No comments:
Post a Comment