God forbid.

The other day while I was running, I was listening to a sermon that Francis Chan gave awhile ago to some university at chapel. It was all about the reality of Christ and remembering who we are praying to.

A couple of summers ago, I gave a sermon to the youth group I was working at that talked about the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies and how meeting with the Lord actually went back then. I was re-reading it and was remembering some of the research that I had done. I still can't even grasp the fact that only one man, one time of year, could go into the Lord's presence. ONE TIME a year. It blows my mind that the curtain separating the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was too thick to cut...which means it really blows my mind when it was torn in two by no one. It was the truth that the Lord's holiness was too much for humans...He was too worthy and perfect to be beheld.

The thing is that the magnificence of the Lord hasn't changed. The only difference is that the curtain was torn.


Christ died to allow us to have a relationship. BUT that relationship does not make us any more worthy to enter into His presence that those people had. The relationship is not something we have earned. The relationship does not lessen Christ’s Holiness nor does it mean that the God that resided behind that curtain has changed. The relationship is a gift. Prayer is a gift.
The only thing that has changed is how we pray; not Who we pray to.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense but I have just seen a few different connections throughout the past few months that are all leading me to the same conclusion: I've lost reverence towards the God that I pray to. It's become casual. God forbid.


"The more I know Your power Lord,
The more I'm mindful
of how casually we sing and speak Your name.
How often we have come to you
with no fear or wonder
and called upon you only for what we stand to gain.

God forbid, that I find You so familiar
that I think of You as less than who You are.
God forbid, that I should speak of You at all,
Without a humble reverence in my heart.
God forbid.

Lord, I often talk about Your love and mercy
how it seems to me Your goodness has no end.
It frightens me to think that I could take You for granted,
though You're closer than a brother,
You are more than just my friend.

God forbid, that I find You so familiar
that I think of You as less than who You are.
God forbid, that I should speak of You at all,
Without a humble reverence in my heart.
God forbid.

You are father, God almighty
Lord of lords, Kind of kings
Beyond my understanding
No less than everything."

_Point of Grace