Posts Tagged: God's name=Who God is
“Pleasing God: When Praise is a Sacrifice”
“15 Through him [i.e., Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:15-16, English Standard Version)
Biblically speaking, pleasing God is not difficult to understand. It’s just hard to do consistently. It involves sacrifice, and I am very possessive. My philosophy of life, far too often, may be summarized as follows: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.” Sometimes, I’m afraid that it is even worse than that. Sometimes, my philosophy is: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine.” Taking a more generous approach to life is a sacrifice.
The verses that lead off this post speak of a couple of ways to please God. One is to offer the sacrifice of praise. The other sacrifice is doing good to everyone. Tomorrow, I will be dealing with doing good to everyone. Today, I am focusing on the sacrifice of praise.
What does it mean to praise? It means, among other things, to “. . . acknowledge his [i.e., God’s] name”? The name in the ancient world often stood for someone’s character. This is certainly true in the Old Testament. And remember that the author of Hebrews was soaked in the Old Testament. Old Testament quotes and echoes abound in the book of Hebrews. When I recognize and acknowledge God’s name— who God is—praise becomes a natural result.
Well, maybe it is not always natural. There are times when praise flows freely. There are times when we can’t help but praise God.
But the author of Hebrews speaks of praise as a sacrifice. Let’s speak the truth here. There are indeed times when praising God does not flow so naturally. There are aspects of God’s character that I don’t always like. God seems to be a God who meddles in my life. God wants my priorities to be healthy. God and I do not always agree at this point.
So, I have to be willing to sacrifice my own priorities in order to praise God for who God is. And I don’t like that.
Furthermore, to praise God means that I have to sacrifice my feeling that I deserve good things, that I am somehow a self-made person. I frequently resent making that admission. To acknowledge my need of God and God’s goodness goes against the grain. I want my own goodness, thank you very much! Whether such a thing even exists in isolation from God is another matter entirely . . . or perhaps it is not another matter. Perhaps that is the matter and also what is the matter with me.
The Greek verb for offering this sacrifice is in the present tense. The present tense in New Testament Greek usually suggests something that is ongoing or continuous. As if that weren’t enough, the author of Hebrews makes it very clear by a little phrase which literally means “though all”. Does this mean “through all things” or “through all times”? Yes!
So today, I am going to sacrifice my praise to God. I don’t always like my lot in life. I don’t always like myself and the way I am living. But God is still God, and God is still worthy of my praise.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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