The fear of the Lord...

...is the beginning of understanding (or of wisdom, as some would have it).

I am beginning to have an inkling of what that means.

As a pastor I heard recently said, "When you fear God, you don't have to fear anything else."

Resurrection Sunday was this past Sunday, and a glorious day it was. I was reminded of my faith, and the beauty therein, residing in the fact that Jesus the Christ is alive and seated at the right hand of the Father.

Have you ever been broken before? Weeping for any number of reasons? Weeping for yourself, for the sins you've committed, for the guilt that weighs on your shoulders, for the children who are starving, for the Haitian people lost in Voodooism, for the liberal tolerance of our country that makes no distinction between right and wrong...

Have you ever soared before? Your heart/spirit/person soaring in the joy of Christ? Not in the fact of anything other than: you love Him. You love the Father in heaven, who sent His only Son to die and rise again that we might be saved?

God is looking for those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Worship. I want a heart of worship that pours forth in my words, actions, and prayers. Words that are life-giving. Actions that are righteous. Prayers that adore my Father.

I used to be afraid of dying--of cancer, of car accidents, of getting shot. Of course, I don't want any of that to happen, but I am believing by faith in what that preacher said: "When you fear God, you don't have to fear anything else." I fear God. And thus, this is the beginning of any type of understanding.

I read this portion of Scripture last night and it blew me out of the water. Seriously, it's like I read and understood it for the first time.

"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks" (Hebrews 12.22-24).

I want a heart of worship. A heart that seeks to honor my King (for example, as the movie The Last Samurai depicts when the Japanese army bows in honor at the death of the great Samurai warrior Katsumoto). And I want to be led by those who have hearts of worship.