Going Beyond Awe in Submitting to God

“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.” (Hebrews 12:18-25, ESV)

I think as Christians, we all have at least one person that we pray would come to know Jesus. A few years ago, when my dad and I were running a youth group, there was one kid that came week in and week out, but he was adamantly rebellious against anything to do with God. He only came because his parents made him and it was one of the only times he got out of the house. 

For years, I watched my dad and other men in the church try to reach and witness to this kid. There was a lot of prayer, energy, and attention that went into him, and one night the Holy Spirit finally intervened and he admitted to believing in God. He prayed a prayer, and that night there was a lot of rejoicing among the youth leaders. It felt like God finally gave an answer to something long prayed for.

And I truly hope that he’s still living a God-honoring life. But growing up in the church, I’ve seen a lot of focus on getting someone to “pray the sinner’s prayer,” as if that is the sole method and mark of a true salvation. The problem with this is that it leads most people to believe that the prayer itself saves, rather than the God the prayer is addressed to. And what happens because of that is that people are lulled into a false sense of salvation. 

‘Well I prayed the sinner's prayer, therefore I am saved,’ becomes the overarching idea. In reality, it’s not the prayer but the actual Savior that saves. And it is not the prayer that marks conversion, it is the full and total repentance of heart, mind, and lifestyle to one that points to that Savior.

“Awe is one thing: the submission of the will is another.” (George Chadwick) When we pray so adamantly that the Lord would draw someone near and change their heart to see Him and follow Him, if that moment comes, we are overcome with emotion. More than that, that person is overcome with emotion; there is an overwhelming sense of awe of the Lord in that moment, as there should be. But if that awe and emotion doesn’t result in submission to the Lord– a turning away from our sinful habits in order to desire and refine a life that pleases our Savior– then that is all there was: awe and emotion.

We cannot be saved by awe and emotion alone. There is a spiritual fruit that must be produced in the life of someone who is truly saved. Think of Israel: a whole nation stood at the base of Mount Sinai in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. They were forbidden to touch or ascend the mountain to be in God’s presence. He spoke to them in a thunderous voice, a cloud surrounded Sinai, and the people were no doubt in awe of the power and glory of the Lord.

But within the span of 40 days, those same people had given themselves back to their sin. They made a golden calf and worshiped it, calling it the god that brought them out of Egypt. If that could happen to the people of Israel, people who saw God’s presence envelop a mountain and heard Him speak clearly to them, how much more could it happen to us? 

In Hebrews 12, it talks about exactly that. Israel saw the physical appearance of the Lord. He spoke to them on earth. He shook the ground and revealed Himself in a way that made even Moses tremble. At the base of Mount Sinai, God’s people were held at a distance. They weren’t allowed to come near. They could only observe His fierce and tangible presence. They received the Law, which required sacrifices and purification rituals and still, they refused Him. They still turned away from Him and chose to make idols in their hearts to worship over a God that displayed Himself over and over to them.

For us, we draw near to God Himself, our Mount Zion. We are welcomed into a relationship with Him. We are beckoned by Him to know Him and His love. We can draw near to Him by the blood of Jesus, who made a way for us to come and be saved. How much better do we have it– that we don’t have to be held at arm’s length from our God? We can know Him. We don’t need to know Him by proxy or after a certain protocol is met. 

But we do need to be holy. We do need to live righteously. We cannot be moved by our awe for Him and then go back to our vices. We cannot be overcome with our emotion for who He is and then return to our sin. Unfortunately, in today’s church, we see a lot of bumper-sticker-Christians. People who say they love God with a cute little Bible verse in their Instagram bio, but who live complacently in their dysfunction apart from God. And that kind of faith is just not going to cut it when all is said and done.

We might as well melt down our gold and bow before a golden cow. It’s rejection of God to the same caliber.

If Israel couldn’t avoid God’s judgment as His chosen people for their complacency, what makes us think we can? They might have seen God with their eyes and witnessed Him on earth, but we have been offered salvation in this life with a much greater intimacy. We can enjoy God here and now, awaiting an even better communion with Him in heaven. But praying a specified prayer with no proceeding spiritual fruit or departure from our old habits and vices doesn’t mean we’ve accepted Christ or converted our hearts. 

Spiritual fruit assures us of our salvation, and we can’t produce spiritual fruit if we’re worshiping idols in our hearts or holding on to complacency and sin. Only the Holy Spirit can move someone to repentance, and that true repentance will be evident in that person’s submission to the Lord, yielding their will to His and laying down things that brought them pleasure in order to honor the Lord.