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In my last article
we reviewed praising the Lord in our manner of life. In this article
I would like to comment on a specific area of praising the Lord
- by the words we speak.
Because of the commercialization of praising the Lord by which
some folks have gained great worldly fortunes, we may hesitate to
praise the Lord in our speech. We may be afraid that someone may
judge our motives as impure if we glorify God in daily speech -
outside of church.
But, the Holy Spirit teaches us to glorify and praise God in our
speech. This goes beyond wholesome words to words that directly
praise God. The problem before some of us is: How do we praise God
without appearing to be an insincere get-rich-quick phoney?
It is incumbent upon all disciples to praise and glorify God with
our words through which we acknowledge Him in all of our ways. Note
these Scriptures which set forth this principal:
- Rom. 15:7-11 Paul quotes O.T. Prophesies - Gentiles will glorify
and praise God.
- Matt. 21:14-16; Lk. 19:37-38 Disciples praise the Lord.
- Lk. 24:50-53 Apostles praise God after ascension of Jesus.
- Acts 2:46-47 Apostles and Christians praise God - church.
- Heb. 13:15 Christians commanded to continually praise God with
lips
It is also worthwhile to note that God is displeased when we do
not glorify Him - those times when we keep the glory for ourselves.
Luke records the death of Herod saying: "Now Herod had been very
angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with
one accord, and having made Blastus the King's chamberlain their
friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied
with food by the king's country. So on a set day Herod, arrayed
in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
And the people kept shouting, 'The voice of a god and not of a man!'
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did
not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts
12:20-24).
Note that Herod was not a Christian. Yet, upon being glorified
as a god, he was struck with a painfully slow death since he did
not glorify God. The record of this event will stand forever as
witness against those who keep the glory from men upon themselves
and refuse to glorify God.
Now for our question: How do we praise God without appearing to
be an insincere get-rich-quick phoney? This is a concern. It makes
me sick to observe those who praise and glorify God as a means to
pad their wallet. I'm sure you can relate to this. Just watch the
music awards. A group will sing about fornication, drunkenness,
suicide, or satanic ritual and then go to the podium to : "Thank
the Lord!"
If we desire to sincerely praise the Lord, we must speak and act
from a pure, cleansed, and honest heart. Herein lies the differences:
We must live according to the will of God without pretention or
purpose of personal gain; and we must seek to praise the Lord without
calling attention to selves.
We should not allow those who speak praises of God from an evil
heart for personal gain to keep us from praising our Heavenly Father
and Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot allow the sins in this world
to interfere with our worship of God. The best examples of praising
God in a perverse generation appear in the Bible. As you read the
Bible, notice the ways that Jesus and His apostles praised God;
and let us follow in their footsteps.
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