HOW TO LIVE IN COMPLETE AWE

The infant church of Acts 2 was immediately overrun by awe.

I am so glad.

Awe is for us today for it is a huge part of the church of Christ.

How do we live in awe? Self-generation won't do it. Trying harder is the same. Yet, there is a factor--an awe gear--to which we may shift.

Luke 7 paints an ugly/beauty scene; that of a member of the church (of sorts), a community reject, and then the Son. One in this painting is in awe. A second is in complete disgust. The one in awe had at least three things going her way:

1. She was overwhelmed with her own sinfulness and, therefore even more in awe of the Son who would dare let her be in the same room.
   



2. The Son covered her back.
   



3. She seems oblivious to her critic for no one was more aware of her persistent lack than she.

These three traits lead us to complete awe. Life isn't awesome because we finally get it. Life is awesome because we finally get us...devastated without Jesus. Mediocrity spends too much time noticing the critic as well as nurturing our own possessive pride.

When we realize we are a train wreck with no deservation of God's intensive and extensive grace, our hearts open to abundant tears of awe....just like the woman discussed.

Awe is for the church today. A villain which has robbed us of awe is the same villain that robbed that Pharisee of his; we have paraded how right we are and how wrong others are.

Repentance of such a mindset will surely fill the church with awe once again.