It is time for us to move beyond sermons that keep saying, “Don’t be afraid, God is with you; don’t be afraid, God will provide; don’t be afraid, God will meet your needs. He will heal your sickness. He will restore you.” Those are words for new Christians. We are certain God is trustworthy, as long as we honour Him.
If we truly honour and value God, we will not sin — or at the very least, we will not easily do so. But the problem is, many people fear poverty or losing their reputation more than they fear the Lord. In fact, for believers in the early days, the main threat they faced was life itself, not just poverty.
If we honour God, we will guard His heart. And if we guard His heart, we will constantly weigh our actions — asking whether what we do pleases Him or not. We must have the courage to decide that, in this life, our single priority is to guard God’s heart. Period. There is nothing more noble than valuing God and making Him the most precious treasure. If we value another person, it is because we value God. If we work and earn money, that money only has value because we value God.
For such a person, God will surely guard them. And those who value God will inevitably also honour Him, and this is no longer about tithing, first fruits, offerings, becoming a church activist, or even a pastor — those are minor matters. The significant matter is this: in everything, we guard God’s heart. He is present in our lives, so we must sense His heart in every word we speak, in every action we take, even in the movements of our thoughts and feelings. This does not make us strange; it is the path we have chosen.
It is not a significant matter whether we become a senior pastor, preacher, or hold any title. Not even poverty or death itself should be a concern. What matters is whether we have valued God as we should. We are special — even the hairs on our head are numbered. If sparrows are valuable, how much more valuable a human being is. Yet ironically, many Christians do not honour God properly, because to them, He seems invisible. When Israel saw God in physical form, they could not help but tremble. Yet, even then, many still hardened their hearts despite witnessing Him firsthand.
Scripture says, “For forty years they saw My works, yet they hardened their hearts.” Imagine that — if those who saw Him directly could do that, how much more prone are we? The Word of God says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, yet we act as if He is not there. We fail to guard His heart — something we have done for years. We may be busy shepherding congregations, busy in theological schools, busy making all kinds of ministry programs — yet in the midst of it all, there can be hidden personal agendas. And yet we know we are precious in His eyes. The question is: Is He precious in ours?
When we strive to place God rightly in our lives, it often feels like He is silent — giving no reward or praise. And when we live carelessly, dishonouring Him, He also seems silent. That is the problem. And indeed, many people live carelessly. We used to be like that, but now we must change. There is still time to change.
If we step into this truth and live it out, we will have no fear of death. No problem will be able to shake us, because God’s presence will move us more than any trouble. We will fear Him more than anything. We will desire to make God alive and real in our lives.
And God is worthy to receive that kind of honour, which means that even when He is silent — seemingly absent — we still guard His heart. We still strive to do our best. We always ask: Does this please God? We must not fear what can kill the body. Death itself becomes meaningless when we already fear God. This fear is born from honouring and loving Him. This fear comes from valuing Him. And that is the true and holy kind of fear.