Skip to main content

Praise Him


          Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

          Why do you praise God? He’s God. He’s so different from us, and so superior to us that our praising Him would be parallel to one one of the skin cells of a dust mite praising you. It might make sense to thank Him for what He does – and that is what Paul will lead us into in a moment but why do we praise Him? What does it even mean to praise someone? According to the folks at Oxford, praise is the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something; the expression of respect or gratitude.” So the folks at Oxford don’t make the differentiation that I do.
          Their definition doesn’t solve the problem. Why should we praise God? Let me ask it another way – what does it matter to God if we do or don’t praise Him? What does it matter whether we praise God or not? God is God. He’s omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He doesn’t need our praise. If praise isn’t for God, it seems logical that it must be for us. Some may immediate stress the notion that our praising God involves our humiliating ourselves or otherwise  debasing ourselves. They maintain that we need to praise ourselves in order to bolster our self-esteem.
Studies show, however, that gratitude promotes relationships, improves physical and psychological health, enhances empathy, reduces aggressiveness, helps people sleep better, improves self-esteem and increases mental strength. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude)
          People who praise God know this already: praising God is good for us. Beyond all the things mentioned above, one benefit of praising God (in music) is that it produces endorphins, and perhaps the biggest benefit of praising God is dealing with the universe as it is. When we praise God, we’re reducing our stress because we’re not pretending to be what we are not (i.e., God.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more