I’d like to share some thoughts with you about the knowledge required for righteous living. This begins with the primary requirement of being saved and then, committed to serving Christ. There ought to be many indications of this in the person who loves and serves Him, but I want to focus on the one that becomes our open door to intimate knowledge of Him. The Bible calls it “the fear of the Lord.” We can rightly think of this as the highest priority for everyone of us who are committed to loving and serving of God, because it opens our hearts to a deep understanding of Him. Proverbs 1:7, the first part, in the NKJV says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…”
Let me suggest that “The fear of the Lord” is best reflected in our efforts to honor Christ with our actions, but especially by how we interact with others. People will observe, measure, and yes, judge us by whether the ways we live our lives display respect for God first, but also respect for others, and then for ourselves. This is the simple imitation of how Christ lived. Therefore, when people observe this in us, they will see something of Jesus. This will suggest to them that they can become what they have known us to be, and will hopefully motive them to do so. In John 14:8 (NKJV) Philip asked Jesus to “show us the Father.” The next verse (Verse 9) records Jesus replying to Philip by saying, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, “Show us the Father.” I’m Dr. Bob. If our lives truly reflect the Christ in us, our message ought to be, “If you have seen me, you have the opportunity to see and to know Jesus.” What could be a better gift to the world, but even more so, from us to Jesus?