God Did Not Remain Aloof

The primary issue that plagues humanity is sin.  Sin is a venomous poison, a disease that drives wedges of alienation in every relationship.  We are frustrated in our relationships to one another, we are alienated in our relationships to God, we are confused in our relationships to creation, and we are even devastated in our relationship with ourselves.  All of this is as a result of sin.  Without attempting to be too provocative, the reason we feel so disconnected from everything around us is sin.  Quite literally, everything is broken.

Who could possibly save us in our dire predicament?  What would it take for us to accept salvation?

In all reality, God could have saved us from the curses of sin without getting His hands dirty, so to speak.  He was not powerless against sin while sitting on His throne in heaven.  Surely He could have handled sin decisively without sending His Son to take on the form of sin, placing the curse of sin upon Christ's shoulders, and He could have washed away sin without requiring blood.  But that is not what He did.

God did not remain aloof in garnering salvation.  He actively reached down into humanity with a distinctly human hand.  He pulled salvation through the torn human ligaments.  He grabbed redemption through blood-soaked flesh.  He laid the immense weight of all the world's sin upon His own shoulders. He satisfied His wrath by becoming the curse of sin.

All this He did at the cross.  In Christ.

To this, there is only one appropriate response: Amen and praise be to God!

Resounding Praise

I have found that when life feels sun-soaked that praise tends to flow from my mouth as a gushing river, without hindrance or difficulty.  On the other hand, when life feels more like a never-ending raincloud that the once easily-flowing praises dries to a trickling faucet. Conversely, when life appears

Why is this?  Why is it difficult to praise God sometimes but at other times it seems to be the only thing worth doing at all?  What is it in me that makes praise a chore or a joy dependent on my mood?

Fortunately, I am not left wandering in this abyss of wallowing emotions.

Praise, unlike my feelings, is an act that engages my heart in a vertical activity.  Whether I am happy or sad, I am prone to inwardness.  But praise is an outward expression, a vertical focus.  Perhaps, then, that my real 'issue' is not in diagnosing the various differences that my varied emotional states make on the prospect of praise.  Rather, my real 'issue' is that no matter my state I am more apt to think about myself, wherever my emotions may be lifting or drooping, than to the Lord in praise.

It is at this point that the reality of my dilemma rises to reveal itself.

My greatest problem is me.

Thank goodness there is a proper cure for this disease of self: PRAISE!

Psalm 100:3–The Lord Is God

Psalm 100:3–"Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture."

Basically everything we need to know about God and our relationship to Him is delivered in this verse. If we could only come to God with this understanding, that He is God and we are His, I am certain that profound transformation could have its effect in us.  The soil the Holy Spirit needs in order to grow His fruit is a penitent heart that comes to His throne with the right posture of praise and humility.

Let us then take this verse as a prayer, a sincere offering of worship to our King.  In this way we will ensure a right perspective as we come to Him in praise and adoration.

Psalm 100:4–Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4–"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise!  Give thanks to Him; bless His name!"

I love this verse.  It speaks of what God desires of us as well as what He requires for us to enter His courts.  Thanksgiving and praise, praise and thanksgiving; this is what God desires from us when we come into His presence.  This is all about ascribing to the Lord what is His due and coming to Him in humility and in faith, recognizing who He is and praising Him rightly!

Let us then strive to come to Him in this way, entering His gates with thanksgiving and praise!

Isaiah 61:3–Garment of Praise Instead of a Spirit of Despair

Isaiah 61:3–"to bestow on the a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor."

This passage is a prophecy is all that Jesus will be granted to do for those who come to Him by faith. If I may be vulnerable for a moment, lately I have felt despair and mourning, I have felt far more like ashes than beauty.  It was in this state that this phrase, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair, was brought to my mind.

While it may seem little, this passage, this phrase hit me square as if an arrow of truth had pierced the very center of my heart.  It occurred to me that not only is this passage about all that Christ will give to those who are His; it is also a strategy for dealing with despair.  In other words, if I am downtrodden with overwhelming despair praise is the remedy.

I want to be honest here, my experience confirms two things in regard to this idea.  The first is that when I am overcome with despair it is difficult to utter praise.  Conversely, however, I have found that it is true that praise will most assuredly pull me from a place of despair and put me in a new place of worship and humility before the Lord.

In all of this, I can only say, "praise be to God!"  For it is only right that we should find our surest relief in uttering praise to His glory.  My exhortation, then, for any who may find themselves covered by a dark despair is that they would strive to praise the Lord.  For in worship we will seek His face, trust in Christ, and sing to the glory of His name.  And each of these things will have the positive effect of taking us out of our despair by inclining our hearts to God.

Psalm 33:4-5–Declaring the Praise of the Lord

Psalm 33:4-5–"For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.  He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord."

What a beautiful testament to the great awesomeness of God!  But what stands out is that this beautiful phrase comes after the psalmist exhorts us to "Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!"  The point is that this statement is a not merely built upon the truths therein.  Rather, this testimony to the Lord flows out of the assumption that we will shout it!  In other words, the very essence of this verse is dependent upon the fact that it is an utterance of praise, a declaration of worship, an exclamation of His amazing awesomeness.  We would do well to keep in my the command to declare who He is just as quickly as we understand who He is.  Recognizing His nature is penultimate to exclaiming it.

Psalm 30:4–Sing Praises

Psalm 30:4–"Sing praises to the Lord, O you saints, and give thanks to His holy name."

Another day, another week.  I find it to be a good exercise and a worthy practice to begin the week with a basic reminder for praise.  This verse and those like it can serve as that reminder, pointing us in the right direction and keeping our ficus where it should be.  So, as we begin another week it might be a good idea for us all to begin like this, with praise.

Psalm 150:1-2–Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:1-2–"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!"

This passage is from the last chapter of the book of Psalms.  It is an utterance of praise and it offers a great look into how worship could or, maybe, should be offered.  Consider the content of these brief verses: adoration, praise and adoration focused on addressing God's greatness and His great deeds.  In many ways, aside from being a great utterance of praise itself this is a wonderful example for how we should worship.

And while this particular post is not intended to go through the whole task of defining worship, it is enough to say that we would well to take this passage as an example to follow in our own praise.

1 Chronicles 16:8–Give Thanks to the Lord!

1 Chronicles 16:8–"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people! Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!"

One of my favorite hymns goes like this:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him all peoples here below!
Praise Him above ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Today, this day, is a great day for praise!  Get at it!

A Moment of Praise

While it must be said that Christians are called to live lives of praise and worship, it should also be said that life is a series of moment strung together.  Using this understanding of life, as but string of moments, we can begin to reduce life's great endeavors to the value of individual moments.  What I mean to say is that when we think of the devotions of life and the disciplines that conjoin and advance these devotions.

Because of this, today I exhort you (and me) to value the sincerity and the pleasure of the moment. Every moment is a powerful opportunity to be and to do the will of God and to praise His name.  Let us take this attitude and posture among us to take advantage of every single moment to worship God's name!

Practice of Perseverance

Perseverance is a practiced trait.  For many, though, it is assumed that either one is or is not capable of persevering.  This, however, is not the case.  We all have within us the capacity to persevere under trial, it is merely our ascension and commitment to the fixing of our eyes on the prize that determines our success in the battle of perseverance.

Spiritually speaking, perseverance can be considered one of the most important traits that is shared by mature Christians.  As Christians, we will face trials and tribulations.  How we handle those struggles, either by leaning more into Christ or leaning more on our own understanding, is the mark of perseverance.

In truth, to persevere, strangely enough, has far less to do with strength than it does with conviction.  When we assert definitively that we will commit to the task of loving God and loving our neighbors, this is the path that will be challenged.  It is not, however, our strength that determines our success; it is our commitment to Christ that, ultimately, renders us successful.  It is His victory and His strength that permits us, by His grace, to persevere under strain and strife. Ultimately, then, it is He who is our focus amidst the trial and it is He who allows us to persevere.

Let us always keep this perspective when we are faced with the advancing difficulties of this world: Our job is not to persevere, it is to continually praise Him.  And through that praise we will persevere.  We should not worry about perseverance for its own worth because those who fix their eyes upon Christ will persevere.

1 Cor. 6:19-20–Glorify God in Your Body

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "Or do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your body."

When we give ourselves to Christ, a major part of the ordeal is that we are given renewed vision to see life as it is and to understand who we are in Him.  This means, among many things, that we began see that our bodies as a place of praise, a site for worship that we take with us wherever we may go.  In other words, our bodies are temples for God and we are commanded here in 1 Corinthians to remember this truth and to live lives that reflect this recognition.  Let us then always keep this truth before us as we strive to live glorifying God with every pore in our bodies!

Psalm 150:6–Let Everything that has Breath Praise

Psalm 150:6: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!"

This is the last verse of the book of Psalms.  It caps the attitude of 150 chapters of prayer, praise, and prophecy.  It is, at the very least, a book of worship.  The verses therein are poetry of the highest ilk, singularly focused on relating to the Lord.  This final verse of this exceptional analogy of worship is both a prescription as much as it is a prophecy.  That is to say that it prescribes for us God's intention for everything, all of His creation to praise.  But it is also a prophecy that at some predetermined point everything that has breath will praise the Lord.  That is a day I look forward to with every atom in my being.  Amen!

Psalm 119:7–Praising God Right Requires Knowing What is Right

Psalm 119:7–"I will praise You with an upright heart, when I learn Your righteous rules."

The question is: how can I praise God in the most appropriate way that would please His heart the most?  The answer: to learn His commandments.

When we know the commandments of the Lord and we apply them into our hearts we become able to fully worship, body, mind, and soul.  It is not that we are unable, per se, to praise Him apart from the commandments.  It's just that if we truly desire to praise Him we will desire to please Him through obedience to His commandments.  There is, as it were, a direct correlation between our obedience to His Word and to our ability to worship.  We would do well, then, to take seriously the call to worship in Spirit and in truth, making sure that the truth is planted firmly within our lives as deeply as we are rooted in Christ!

Isaiah 25:1--Praise the Lord

Isaiah 25:1: "O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure."

I love this verse.  So clear and so direct.  Praise the Lord for all He has done for He is faithful and sure to fulfill His plans of old.  He is steadfast to keep His covenant promises for a thousand generations.  Therefore, because of all this, we praise His name!  To be sure, the Scripture speaks for itself, so I'll repeat:


"O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure."

No Substitute for Praise

Worship is an insurmountable salve for all the ills of the human condition.  There is a unique healing that happens when a human bows before the Lord.  It is a sweet comfort for the worshiper  to praise God with an earnest and humble heart.

It is a simple thing, really.  Yet despite the reality of it all, many people either neglect praising God or willfully reject worshiping Him at all.  But those that do not praise Him are worse for their wear while the worshiper is strengthened to weather any tumult or storm.

There is no substitute for genuine praise.  The sincerest praise heals hearts and mends the broken, giving them strength in weariness and hope in desolation.  It is a matter of honesty and reverence, recognizing who God is and how much we need His mighty hand for every breath for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.  Let us then offer Him praise for who He is and all He has done and continues to do!

Walking Straight through Life's Snow Drifts

Midwest winters are snow-filled and cold.  The frigid, frostbitten drifts of January make Wisconsin farmlands look like the endless frozen tundras of the arctic.  On one such day, a grandfather and his grandson have a job to do.  They have to repair a broken fence post on the farside of the field, a good hundred yards from the farmhouse.  After putting on their mittens and stocking caps, the duo begin the long trudge through the banks of snow to the other side of the field.  

Because of the flatness of the plain, the wind had formed the snow into waves that undulated instep with the plow lines of the snow-covered frozen meadow.  The young nine-year-old could not resist the urge to run across and through the rippled banks, while the grandfather, reserved and steady as he was, stayed the path to the broken fence post.  The boy was getting tired with all his running around in frolicking glee and his garb was growing more heavy with the weight of sweat and snow.  

When the two finally arrived at the field's farside, the grandfather turned back towards the house and motioned for his grandson to look.  The grandfather spoke with certainty but kindness, "See how your tracks are all over the place, meandering about the field with barely any direction.  Now look at mine: true and straight as an arrow shot directly at its target.   Son, it's cold out here and I would rather be inside.  So remember: sometimes it's best to keep your eyes fixed on the goal in order to get it done."

In many ways, life is like this.  Throughout our lives, we are either the grandfather or the grandson:  focused on the task or wandering through the snowdrifts in hopes of reaching the goal.  At the onset, it seems necessary to indicate with clarity that the goal of life is to enter into eternity in right relationship with the Holy Lord Almighty, which occurs by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.  Because of this reality, it may be best to think of the grandfather's path as that of the sure and secure believer, the grandson's as the wayward lukewarm questioner lacking conviction and commitment.

In the latter case, the necessary corrective steps, akin to the Prodigal Son, would be to concede in humility to God's grace and commit himself to Christ.  However, and more pertinent for this dialogue, the plight of the grandfather, who represents the Christian who has decidedly fixed his/her trajectory, is far-more easily exhorted than accomplished.

There is a need for an unrelenting focus.  If we, as Christians, are to stay the course that leads to eternity with God, then we must firmly fix our gaze upon the prize, which is Christ, in order that we may finish the race as winners (1 Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:14; Heb. 12:1-2).  There is a requisite recalibration of repentance that we need to go through so that we can walk with the certain stability of the grandfather and not become reckless wanderers like the grandson.  To be sure, the process of realignment to Christ and His Word is like every step through the winter of this world.  In this way we can truly remain true to the path that leads to eternity.  Praise God who helps us accomplish this task and focus!

Acceptable Sacrifice and Worship

Worship is a full-person ordeal.  It requires conviction in love and Spirit.  Additionally, because worship is, in its basest form, stepping into the presence of the Holy Lord and because He cannot be in the presence of sin, we must put on Christ and strive to keep in Christ for the purpose of worship.  Because of the gravity inherent to worship, to relegate it to brief liturgy, hymn singing, or a time of prayer is far less than what God asks of us.

The Old Testament has some revealing things to say about the true nature of worship.  The first instance of worship is in regards to Cain and Abel.  We may remember the end of the story with Cain murdering Abel and God banishing Cain, but we should never forget the beginning of the story and why Cain killed his little brother.

Gen. 4 tells us that at some point Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to God, Cain of the field and Abel of the flock.  Both brought a sacrifice of praise and worship, yet God disregarded Cain's in favor of Abel's. It was God's determination of the value of their sacrifices that roused Cain's jealousy and caused him to murder his brother.  Both brothers sought to worship God with sacrifices of praise, God considered Abel's worthy and Cain's less-than.  The pertinent question is why?

There are two reasons that God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's.  The first is the sacrifice itself: Abel brought the firstborn of his flock.  While it could never be said that farming isn't a toilsome lot, the sheer value of animals cannot be overrated.  The firstborn was the most valuable thing anyone could offer.  Abel's sacrifice cost him more than Cain's.  The measurement of worship is how much it costs the worshiper, not how it stacks up against other worshipers (Mark 12:41-44).

Secondly, Abel's heart of sacrifice was not out of obligation, it was out of love.  The content and state of the worshiper's heart is the measurement of worship.  Abel offered worship out of his sincere love and reverence for the Lord.  Because of this, God found Abel's sacrifice acceptable.  This should prompt us to have the same mind among us in worship.

At the final analysis, God wants our worship to be sincere, reverent, and costly.  While most Christians would agree with the first two, the last should not ever be eschewed in favor of more comfortable worship.  We need to give Him our very best.  Only when we give Him the very best of ourselves will we be offering Him acceptable and pleasing sacrifices and worship.  As Paul says, we need to offer our very bodies fully to Him as our sacrifice of worship (Rom. 12:1).  Let us then commit to worship that which may be pleasing in His sight!

Praising the Lord

Loving God is a beautiful gift.  And although it is done through faith in His Son Christ Jesus, literally praising Him is an important expression of our sincere love for God.  As God's creation, we have such a distinct pleasure in offering up sincere praises to the Holy Lord Almighty.  We get to join with creation's choir in lifting up a sacred song of worship.  In fact, as the Psalms indicates, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork (Psa. 19:1)."

Or consider the four living creatures that sit around the throne and continually say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come (Rev. 4:8)!"  And the twenty-four elders cry out in response, "Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created (Rev. 4:11)."

Heaven is a continual and constant worship service of praise and adoration for the Holy Lord.  In reality,  God has no need of our praise and worship; He does not need it.  He does, however, command us to praise Him (1 Chron. 16:8; 1 Thess. 5:18; Heb. 13:15, et al).  Therefore, it stands to reason that God asks us to praise Him for our sake.

This should both convict and challenge us to rethink our preconceptions of worship.  Truthfully, if we can assert that God does not need our worship, we must conclude that we do and that worship serves us in loving Him, but how?  God wants us to worship Him because in worshiping Him, in loving Him through praise, we ascribe to Him what He deserves while simultaneously denying self-praise.

Additionally, and much more importantly, worshiping God through sincerely offering praises and exaltations, positions us into performing the exact role that each of us was made to.  In a sense, for us not to worship is like trying to drive a fishing boat along railroad tracks.  Not only will it damage the boat, but it will never be as effective as putting the boat into the lake to do what it was made to do.

One of the challenges to this is our limited understandings of what constitutes worship.  The scope of this dialogue does not allow much more than an in-exhaustive list of what constitutes worship--school, work, chores, music, prayer, Bible study--all of these can be worship when done to the glory of God.  The intent of our heart is the important part of worship.  Let us then pursue worshiping God so as to be the people He has made us to be and to love Him with thanksgiving and devotion!

Responding in Worship

Worship and recognition go hand-in-hand.  If we recognize who God is in His majesty our response will be worship.  If we were to think of worship in terms of relationship, then, recognizing the person and character of God must precede and dominate any offering of praise because love requires knowledge.

Consider Isaiah, taken on the clouds to the heavenly throne room to see God in His infinite, incomprehensible glory.  His only response is to stammer and cry out, "Woe is me!"  To truly stand and face God's character and person is to recognize His holy awesomeness in contrast to our sinful depravity and utter smallness.  We are but blades of grass in comparison to Him.

Recognizing Christ Jesus for who He is encompasses so much of Christian faith.  Upon conversion we see the glorified Son, who took on the sin of all mankind.  Thus recognizing Jesus we align ourselves to Him by faith and receive grace; true worship.  Additionally, at the end of times we will be given the ultimate gift, finally being able to see Him as He truly is (1 John 3:2).

Worship is this: recognition and response.  To see God as He is will prompt a response of reverence and fear, struck in awe before a holy and infinite God.  Therefore, the first and continual step in living out a life of worship is learning who He is in ever greater measure.  Through faithful and Spirit-filled Bible study, prayer, and fellowship we learn more about Him which will compel us to live  a life of worship.

Unfortunately, in our ever-secular new age post-modern world, worship has become a watered-down verb that can refer to anything a person may wish to honor and praise.  This is both tragic and condemnable.  Only God is worthy of our worship because only God, upon humble recognition of who He is, is worth it.   Therefore, those that refuse to worship the Lord Almighty do so not because they have actually seen God and found Him unworthy of praise; God forbid!  Rather, those that refuse to worship the Lord do so because of a pedetermined disposition to not see God as God, but to see Him as something whimsical, detestable, and less than God.

At the final analysis, God is the only One who deserves our praise.  This is His world; He made it in all its intense vastness and minute intricacy using nothing more than the very power of His Word.  He sustains us moment by moment.  If we would spend time every day simply contemplating Him, we would be so totally drawn to Him in worship that we would live lives of worship, constantly in awe at the Holy Lord.  Worship really can be that simple!