Talkng About Praise

One of my favorite part of Scripture is Psalm 34, especially verses 1-3; "I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together."

My fascination with this Psalm lies in David's determination to bless (praise, salute) the Lord no matter what. So many times we allow our emotions to influence our praise, but here we see the Psalmist making the conscious decision that he would bless the Lord at all times; the two important phrases being "I will" and "at all times". We cannot always trust our emotions, and there are times when it feels like we are passing through endless valleys, and that may be the case for some, but even then, we can resolve to bless the Lord. To praise or not to praise is a decision that we make. When and how often we praise are also decisions that we make. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nothing external to you have any power over you," and once we realize this, we will also realize that there is nothing, nor no one, that can stop our praise but ourselves.

We cannot afford to be "situational praisers." True worshippers see praise as an offering to God for who He is; a celebration of His attributes. Inspired by the Holy spirit, David wrote, "Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary: praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts: praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD" (Psalm 150).

I am with David. "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the LORD's name is to be praised" (Psalm 113:3), so come and "magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." Praise ye the Lord!

Radical "Surgery": Doing What is Necessary

Some of Jesus' hearers must have wondered what He was talking about. How did a teaching that started with the ethics of the kingdom of God got around to include plucking out an eye? Cutting off a hand? Would God's kingdom be filled with one-armed and one-legged people? The voice of the Teacher echoed across the audience: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee . . . And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:29-30, KJV).

Of course, Jesus was using hyperbole, exaggeration, a common method of teaching then in order to make a point. Using the analogy of an amputation, He wanted to teach yet another important spiritual lesson: "If a person, in order to save his or her life, will remove an eye or amputate a limb, should he or she not also amputate an evil desire/tendency in order to save his or her soul?"

A malignant tumor is not one that is treated with the intent of saving it. Because of its tendency to become progressively worse and to potentially result in death, such a tumor must be removed. As such, physicians and specialists radically deal with it one way or another. As it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual. The attitudes and behaviours that threaten our spiritual health cannot be allowed to proliferate in our lives without getting our attention. It is easy to dismiss and excuse these "diseased" attitudes and behaviours as insignificant, yet they are the ones that could potentially keep us out of God's kingdom. For that reason alone, they require radical surgery; they require "amputation"! To Jesus’ point, if we would do everything to save our lives, we should be more than willing to do everything to save our souls. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

There is nothing easy or pleasurable about an amputation, but it often saves lives. From a spiritual perspective, isn't it better to face the pain – possibly severe pain - of dealing with the issues that threaten us now, than to face the eternal pain of being separated from God due to a stubborn, persistent refusal to live life His way? Whatever is going to keep me out of the kingdom, I can do without! What say you?

The Unspeakable Gift

Christmas is over. Soon the trees will come down as will the decorations and the lights. For some, there is really nothing quite like the excitement of Christmas morning - anxious kids, sleepy-eyed adults, the exchanging and opening of gifts. Some were opened to much delight as the peeling away of wrappings revealed something much desired or delightfully unexpected. Others were opened to a twinge of disappointment. Yes, the recipient was grateful but it was not quite what they were hoping for, and so some gifts will be returned and others will be exchanged. Such is some of the drama around Christmas.

Yet amidst all of this, the celebration of Christmas for some was more than just trees, lights, decorations, presents, or even family and friends. It was a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, God's gift to the world. The wrappings on that gift wasn't fancy. Born in a stable to a virgin girl and her startled husband, wrapped in strips of cloth and placed in a feeding box, how could one believe that this was no ordinary baby but rather the "Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"? But it was true! This gift, so nondescript as it seemed then, was one that superseded all other gifts imaginable. It could not be returned or exchanged, only refused, and to refuse it would be the biggest mistake that an individual could make. It was impossible to be fully reconciled to God without this gift as He later said of Himself, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6, ESV). While we may not be particularly thankful for some of the gifts we received at Christmas, here was one we could always be thankful for. By sending His Son into the world, God flung the doors wide open for our redemption. Judgement and condemnation were escapable because while the wages of sin is death, the gift of God, obtainable through Jesus Christ, was everlasting life. Given our spiritual alienation from God and the things of God, could there have been a greater gift?

As we leave this Christmas behind us, may we be constantly reminded that God's gift to us is not only good at Christmas, but all throughout the year. Accepting that gift makes the world of difference in our lives and so like the Apostle Paul we can say, and should say, with a heart of gratitude, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15).

Abiding in the Vine

Several days after cutting the grass in my backyard, I noticed that the grass clippings were no longer green, but brown. Of course, that made perfect sense because having being cut off from their source of food and nutrients, they could not survive. As I looked out at this natural occurrence, I thought of the words of Jesus: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman....As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me....I am the vine, ye are the branches...without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:1, 4b-5, KJV).

In our increasingly secular humanistic age where reliance on self and one's abilities are highly touted, the Christian, if not careful, can lose sight of this profound spiritual truth. I am sure most of us know, or at least have heard, those words spoken by Jesus, but have we taken the time to really understand them? The word "abide" implies staying or remaining in a given place or state, and Jesus used the word seven times in the first seven verses of John 15. Talk about emphasizing a point! The successful Christian is not the one who sings and prays the loudest, has the biggest Bible, speaks "spiritualese", or has a perfect record of Church attendance. It is the one who constantly stays connected to the source of all that pertains to life and godliness, Jesus Christ, the true Vine.

The aforementioned grass clippings didn't have a choice to stay connected to their life source, but when He spoke the words "If ye abide in me" (v.7), Jesus made abiding in Him a matter of personal choice. Amidst the hustle and bustle of our days and the many distractions we experience, sincere Christians have to make the time to nurture this most important of relationships. Disconnected from Christ we wither away spiritually, yet it doesn't have to be that way. Jesus made it possible for us to experience the richness of being sustained and kept by the richness that flows from Him, for as long as we choose to stay connected to Him. As you examine your own life, what choice does it reflect?

"Without me ye can do nothing." Lord, may the profoundness and reality of that truth provoke us to do whatever it takes to stay connected to you.