2005-08-13 - Reflecting

Psalm 8, Part 6

But the greatest work we do is not caring for the earth, as important as that is. It is praising and worshiping the Lord. And the motivation for meeting this responsibility is an awareness of the greatness, the majesty of the Lord.

"O Yahweh our Lord, how glorious is your name through all the earth!" ⁵

It is as we examine God's handiwork, that we gain a proper perspective of the relationship between ourselves and the Lord. Certainly the responsibility of the Church is to make disciples.

" ... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).

And implicit in this command is the responsibility of believers it to grow and mature, and as part of that growth, we have the responsibility to praise and worship the Lord. For growth means to focus on the Lord and not ourselves. The result of this focus will be praise, worship, and spreading God's majestic name through out the earth.

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all" (1 Chronicles 29:11).

And so our very walk must reflect these truths. As we walk with our children, help them look at God's creation and see it as His, and Him in it. Help them learn to hurt for all of the earth, both people, and the creation itself. Let us all reflect the responsibility that God desires of us, not because we have to, but because we want to.

And let both our walk and our words show reverence for the majestic name of the Lord: First because God is deserving of our praise, of our worship. And second, because it is through the very act of worship that is our walk, that others may come to know the same love and mercy of God that we have experienced. Let our daily lives be one of praise, love and worship, in spite and maybe because of our circumstances.

Final Comments: Do you realize that you and I are the manifestation of God's glory before fallen mankind?

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

When we say the majesty of God is visible through the earth, that His name is everywhere, it is not only present in creation, but it is present in the visible church. And we are the visible church. Often the only exposure the lost have to the face of God is its reflection in our own. And while we don't always show God's face to the extent that we might wish, nevertheless, that is something we are all striving to accomplish, and sometimes we do.

Again, remember that you and I are the manifestation of God's glory before fallen mankind.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

⁵ Dahood., p. 48.

Psalm series to be continued.

Comments or Questions?
Geoff

GKragen@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org