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Praise Of His Glory


      In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will,  in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

          Getting back to the chosen and predestined thought line… it results in praise and glory for Christ. Once again, this isn’t the Narcissistic “praise me so I can feel good about myself “ or “give me a trophy for participation” sort of praise and glory. It’s not done for God’s benefit. It’s done because it’s an acknowledgement of truth. God doesn’t need to be propped up by our praise, but He is worthy of it.
          Our problem as fallen Humans is that we want that sort of praise. Oh, it might be fine to praise God. The songs praising Him are uplifting, beautiful… some of the most beautiful music in the world. We love to sing them. We especially like to sing His praises when they reflect well on us.
See? We’re good Christian soldiers, marching unto war. Our dream is that those who come behind us find us faithful. We have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Those are all from good, old songs. My impression is that modern Christian music is more often more focused on us than on God. (Honestly, I don’t listen to much because when I want to listen to music, there’s too much bother and blather on the radio, so I listen to the same old CDs over, and over, and over…. and I enjoy them.) The point is that our focus tends to be on our praise.
          I’m not going to suggest that Paul, Peter, James, John, and the other disciples don’t deserve praise. I read what they’ve written, and I learn from them, but if we followed them through a day, would be be impressed? Scripture gives us unvarnished truth about them. We know each of them had faults and failed, but I think we tend to either lionize or demonize people. We recast them in our image, or at least in our ideals. Will we be disappointed when we find that they’re just people? Or relieved? If we’re relieved, won’t it be because, “they’re just like us?”
          I come back to an imagined version of the race described in Hebrews 12. In it, I come out off the starting line, take two steps and fall on my face, and Jesus picks up my baton and runs it in for the prize. The second round, I run the wrong direction, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit take me by the elbows and run me to the finish line – and afterward, I’ll tell you that my feet didn’t even touch the ground, I was running so fast! In the third round, I crawl across the finish line, with Jesus walking along side to make sure no one trips over me. “But I still won!”
          No, I didn’t. Jesus did, and that’s why He deserves praise of His glory. Any other claim on our part and we're just lying to ourselves. What good is that?

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