Reverance

Reverence for God
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Abstract
Reverence to God is the most basic key that we should have as individuals, and more so Christians. This is because we are aware that it is God who holds the universe, and who holds our lives. We are also aware that He is Himself a Holy God, and requires Holiness. This piece tries to explain the key reasons why we should revere God, and why we should honor Him. It clearly states in the holy book that He so deserves respect, honor, and adoration. Thus, He already created us a responsibility of treating him with awe. This piece also shows the importance of maintaining human dignity, and social justice as part of our reverence for Him. Human dignity is respect for the humankind. Respecting humanity as explained below is part of revering God. This is because humankind is part of His creation, in fact, created with from the breath of God, and the closest creature that God had because He could even commune with him. Social justice is also part of human dignity as it includes treating each other the way they ought to be treated.

Introduction
Reverence comes from a Hebrew word “yare” which means to fear or to be afraid of something or someone. It could also mean to stand in awe of something or to have a deep respect and honor for a creature, or mostly a supernatural being. In Christianity, reverence would mean respect to a supernatural being, who in this case is God. He is their supreme being, and thus they have to respect him, and His creation.

This is because they also believe in the existence of Him alone (Nyamnjoh, 2016). He alone created all that existed, and it was created out of nothing. This means that everything else that was created was out of nothing, and therefore we become creatures. He created but was never created.
Creation should, therefore, be treated with reverence because God appointed us as stewards of His creation. In the Garden of Eden, God ordered a man to work it and take care of it. He also commands man to multiply and increase in number.
Another reason why we should take care of God’s creation in reverence is that everything that God created was good. This is evident by His very words, which He said at the end of everything he created, that He saw it was good (Martin, 2016). We thus have a responsibility of maintaining the goodness of that which He created to ensure that we do not destroy it.
Whatever God made, belonged to Him, and not to man. Therefore, we have a responsibility of maintaining it because he created man as the steward to His creation. He is Himself a pure God (Peters, 2017).. Therefore, whatever else He created is as pure. He could not create something that is impure because He could not know what impure means, as He is a Holy God. We, therefore, have to maintain the purity of the things He created. This is through taking whatever He created in total honor and awe.
There exist connections between reverence for creation, respect for human dignity and social justice. Human dignity means a sense of self-respect for both physical and psychological integrity and empowerment. Man is God’s creation. Therefore, respecting humankind for who they are is revering God’s creation, because we are part of his creation (Channa, 2017). Disrespecting human dignity would be an indirect disrespect to what God has put in place. The man was the closest of God’s creation. It was him only whom the spirit of the lord was breathed into.
Social justice is also connected to the reverence for God’s creation. God is a just God, therefore he also requires us that we maintain social justice as humankind. He punished Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after they sinned. This indicates that sin should be punishable. Wrongdoing as well should be punishable. However, the rights of individuals should also be fought for since we are responsible for each other and created to be our brother’s keeper. Social justice also includes people realizing their ability in the society they live in. They, therefore, are able to actualize what they feel they ought to (Donnelly, 2015). This include in areas such as equal justice, where they can comfortably access their rights, and undertake their duties and responsibilities comfortably. It also includes people having equal rights and opportunities. While God creates a human being to take care of each other, it is keen to note that allowing people to practice social justice is respecting God’s creation. To wrap it up, every good act towards the man and towards creation is an act of revering God. He has called us to do so, and thus in obedience; we ought to do what he commands us.
References
Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2016). # RhodesMustFall: nibbling at resilient colonialism in South Africa. Langaa RPCIG. Retrieved from: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=canticle+of+the+sun&&view=detail&mid=8FD50CE9DB750EE0FB1D8FD50CE9DB750EE0FB1D&FORM=VRDGAR
Peters, T. (2017). Universal Humanity, Religious Particularity, and Scientific Reductionism. In On Human Nature (pp. 685-694). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun#Text_and_translation
Channa, S. M. (2017). ‘Constructed’images of gender and gender roles in the Northeastern Himalayas: virtual and actual. In Gender, Poverty and Livelihood in the Eastern Himalayas(pp. 99-115). Routledge India. Retrieved from: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=canticle+of+the+sun&&view=detail&mid=B327C453CD45E33AA595B327C453CD45E33AA595&FORM=VRDGAR
Donnelly, J. (2015). Normative versus taxonomic humanity: Varieties of human dignity in the western tradition. Journal of Human Rights, 14(1), 1-22.
Martin, M. W. (2016). Albert Schweitzer’s reverence for life: ethical idealism and self-realization. Routledge.