Reverence toward God is the beginning of wisdom. There is NO spiritual growth without the growth of this first and foremost. And growth is what we all want and need.

What does reverence mean? What does it look like? How can we develop it more?

In this episode, learn the three foundational parts of it and how to develop each part.

Here are the parts: Recognition, Appreciation, and Holiness. With these, you can develop a healthy fear of God. Without them, your reverence will likely be based only on fear.

Fear can be a good motivator, but it has limits. God does not want us to be terrified of Him so that we never approach Him. On the contrary, biblical reverence far surpasses a fear-based relationship and moves into a relationship based upon love.

Reverence is key to love for God because it helps keep us balanced. Love for God might cause us to overlook important details and approach God as if He were like us. That would be a terrible mistake. Reverence helps ensure that we do not take this relationship casually. It helps us to take Him and His word as seriously as they deserve.

Recognition

It’s a simple concept: Pay attention to what God has done and is doing. There are some exercises to help with this. The better we get at paying attention, the more we will develop reverence. It all begins here.

Appreciation

Appreciation means coming to an understanding of the meaning behind what we recognize about God. It is about enjoyment. There are three definitions of the word that we consider in the episode.

Holiness

A religion that does not change you has little value. Sanctification is the process of changing from who we are into what God wants us to become. During this process we are made holy–that is, we are “set apart” as different than the world around us. God’s nature not only teaches us to be different but demands it.

With these three parts, your foundation for reverence can be sustained a lifetime.