"You must serve only the LORD your God." (Exodus 23:25)
"Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring 'Look, this blood confirms the covenant the LORD has made with you in giving these instructions. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!" (Exodus 24:8-11)
" 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'...'To those who use what what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.' " (Matthew 25:23, 29)
The fear of God should work it's way out in our lives in the vigorous pursuit of holiness. "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1, NASB). We are to be holy because He is holy (1 Peter 1:16)...We are not holy, but we can and must take stesps to pursue holiness, to separates ourselves from sinful habits and practices.
Because God is holy, we also need to practice humility...On this earth we aren't likely to have a sudden overwhelming encounter with the holiness of God as Isaiah did, but God is no less holy today than He was when Isaiah saw Him in the temple. Deep humility is the only proper response as we see our sin in the light of His holiness.
Nothing produces humility in a Christian as much as an abiding sense of one's own sinfulness...As we seriously pursue holiness we'll grow in humility, for we discover, as Calvin said, that 'our nature, wicked and deformed, is always opposing his uprightness; and our capacity, weak and feeble to do good, lies far from his perfection." Consider God's encouragement to those who seek humility:
"For this is what the high and lofty One says--
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and lofty place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite." (Isaiah 57:15)
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