The reverence we show to God results from us cherishing his gifts of forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life.

In a variety of ways our reverence may be made manifest. Nehemiah’s way warms my heart! Previous governors had for their own use required from the citizens of Israel cash, food, and wine, while assistants "lorded it over the people." However, Nehemiah stated simply, "out of reverence for God I did not act like that " (Neh. 5:15–16, emphasis supplied).1

Paul admonished the church in Corinth, "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God" (2 Cor. 7:1). Is this appeal for you and me? If so, what are "these promises" to which Paul refers? They are found in the preceding verses: "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ’I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’…

"’I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.’"
(2 Cor. 6:16, 1)2

What a glorious calling we have, to serve individually as temples of the living God! He adopts us as sons and daughters. He is eager to live with us and walk among us. Recognizing this presence should inspire reverence in all our conversation and behavior!

Our relationships with one another are to be shaped by our experience of God’s forgiveness, making us willing to "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph. 5:21, emphasis supplied).

Important though all the above is, a demonstration of reverence to which our tradition leads us sometimes to give especially serious consideration is behavior in the house of God.

But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down.
(Ps. 5:7)

A question for consideration is this: How do church design and structure affect your feelings and expression of reverence in the house of God?

You may manage to remain quiet and reverent while leaving the sanctuary, avoiding "stopping in the aisles to visit or gossip, thus blocking them up so that others cannot pass out."3 However, after shaking the preacher’s hand and emerging, do you wish your church had a spacious foyer if it has only a tiny, cramped space? Perhaps you want to find and greet your former college roommate who is visiting today, or ask a friend to substitute for you at the nursing home service in the afternoon. If there is no suitable place for this type of contact, does it get pushed back into the sanctuary?

What kind of resonating surface is best inside a sanctuary? I was surprised when, asked this question, a relative told me that she feels more like being quiet in a church that has a live, resonant quality than in one that is relatively deadened for sound. Her husband added that when it comes time to express one’s reverence through singing to God’s glory, surely the "live" church gives more brilliance and fervor to the experience.

The quarterly for Monday says, "When you look at the Cross and realize that this was God, the Creator, hanging there, dying for His own creation, how can we not have a sense of reverence, of awe?" Would a stained glass window artistically depicting this scene draw your thinking in appreciation to your Savior’s sacrifice for you? Touring a cathedral dating from the twelfth century, I heard a guide observe that before the invention of printing, those impressive art glass windows provided one of the main avenues for religious education. If your church has contributed much of its substance to mission enterprise with the result of a modest church structure at home, would a tasteful painting of Jesus contribute to your feeling of gratitude toward him? Or would you rather form all the pictures in your own mind?

How can the organization of the worship experience enhance your feeling and expression of reverence? I have heard one member express reservations about our pastor inviting us to move about to greet visitors during the introductory part of our church service, but more of our members seem to approve this kind of expression of warmth. For me, after the announcements, the call to worship and the introit serve almost like a curtain through which we pass into the quiet reverence of worship from the intermission hymn sing and the life-of-the-church announcements (another form of reverence?).

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
(Ps. 89:7 NKJV)

Notes and References

1. All Bible verses are from the New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
2. See Lev. 26:12; Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 37:27; 2 Sam. 7:14 and 8:1–18.
3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, 494.

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