Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us be gracious, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

— Hebrews 12:28-29

Some years ago, I was on the Merv Griffin Show talking about prayer in schools. Merv asked, “What good is a couple of minutes of prayer going to do, anyway? What difference does it make?”

It makes a great deal of difference whether one believes in God, and when one prays, or a class of students prays, one thing they are saying is that there is a higher authority than the state.

Does that really make any difference? There have been many, many indirect consequences of the Supreme Court’s 1962-1963 decisions to ban school prayer. And the fallout has literally amounted to expelling God in toto from our entire school system and beyond that, from the public life of America. God has been thrown out, and so the metal detectors have been installed.

Have you ever wondered why our society is going downhill so fast? I think a major part of it is that so many today lack a fear of God. They act as if they will not be held accountable. In this, they are totally wrong. Part of the reason some people get upset with Christians speaking out on moral issues from a biblical perspective is that they want to be able to sin with impunity. Jesus put it this way, “light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

What we need in our land is more “God fearing.”

Question to ponder:
What does it mean to you when the Scriptures say that our God is a consuming fire?