Daily Devotional For Saturday, March 22, 2025
It is the weekend and I hope all of you are going to enjoy the weekend. With that being said, death is not a topic that most people feel comfortable talking about. The last time I checked, death is no respecter of anyone. It takes young, old, poor, rich, famous, unknown, the highly intelligent and those who are not. Death is a common denominator in every culture. So, it is not a matter of if, but of when you die. Never know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. So, doesn’t it make sense that all of us should get prepared for the inevitable?
Jesus said this in Luke 12:4-5, “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. (5) But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear” (NASB). In my personal experience it seems there are more people who fear death than who fear God – even in the church. Many people in the church use profanity, get drunk, sleep around with multiple partners, use drugs, and etc. They live their lives as if God is some kind of benevolent grandfather rather than a God of wrath (Rom. 1:18).
I know this is Jesus talking, but when He says, “Don’t be afraid of people who can just kill your body,” my response is, “Why not?” “Because,” He says, “I’ll tell you whom to fear.” Now He really has my attention: “Fear the One who has the power to cast you into hell.” No person and no Devil has that authority. The Bible says God, the Father, reserved the right to judge humanity. Because of Jesus’ obedience, He gave that privilege to Jesus.
Jesus said He is the only door to God’s Kingdom, and there is only one alternative for our eternity if we choose not to go through it. In this context, fear is not terror, dread, and hiding. Fear is respect, reverence, and awe. Jesus is the One we want to respect and revere above all others. God is our heavenly Father, but I can tell you this. How I talked for example to my friends growing up was not how I talked to my southern mother. There was a line I was scared to death to cross and for good reasons.
As Bill Cosby used to say in his comedy routine on tours about his own disobeying children, my mother could say to me, “I brought you into this world. I can take you out of this world and I can make another one just like you.” Fear– respect is a lost trait today. I believe that one of the main reasons so many people who claim to be Christians live no differently than non-Christians is because they no longer have any respect for the Lord. In their mind, they walked the aisle, gave their life to Christ, got their “fire insurance” against hell and can live however they desire. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say we can live this way.
What the Bible does say is just the opposite. Look at Romans 6:1-4:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (3) Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (NASB).
Salvation is not a license to live whoever we want. It is a gift to live how Jesus lived. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who went back during WWII to oppose Hitler and was martyred by Hitler two weeks before the Allies took Germany, wrote this:
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace ... is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him” (Source: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Kindle, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 44).
When we revere God, we worship, honor, and obey Him—not out of unhealthy fear, but out of deepest respect. No fear, or no respect of God is to intentionally cheapen His grace and sacrifice for us on the cross. It reveals we are all about greed and void of gratitude.
Questions To Consider
- Would the Lord say you have a healthy fear of Him or not? Why?
- Are your attitudes and actions reflective of a person who has a deep respect for God? Why or why not?
- The grace that God has shown you and continues to show you, do you cheapen it or do live appreciating the cost it was and is for the Lord for you? Why?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Peter 2:16, “For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, I want to respect Jesus’ opinions more than I respect the opinions of others. I want to please Jesus more than anyone else. May my words and actions show to everyone I interact with that I hold You above all people and all things. Thank You that, because of Jesus’ cross, I can be a part of Your Kingdom for eternity. In His name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly