Approved by God

Praise is an expression of approval or admiration for someone. We all like to receive praise because it lifts us up. It is a human desire to be admired or approved of by others. The reality is oftentimes we don’t return praise to others—whether it’s from not knowing what to say or perhaps simply being so self-involved to not notice the need they have to be admired or approved of.

But Jesus came to show us a different way. His way drew people into the beauty that comes with recognizing people in difficult times and encouraging them. For instance, the Woman at the Well, whose story is told in John 4, powerfully benefited by Jesus showing a kind of approval towards her. He didn’t endorse sin, but He saw the need for value and He genuinely offered that to her. But others also received a kind of “praise” from Jesus: Zaccheus (Luke 19), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), or any of the many people He healed along His way to Jerusalem.

Jesus was on the way to make us “approved” by God. That would require giving up His life to do it. The lengths Jesus went to for us to be able to stand with God someday is truly inspirational.

Mercy Me sang a song called “I Can Only Imagine,” and the lyrics echo the struggle we may have at times in knowing how to praise God appropriately. But in the end, it’s about trusting Him, longing to follow Him, serve Him, honor Him. The chorus of that song says, “Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine…”

As we better understand what’s at the heart of praise, we are more likely to offer praise to God and to others that truly reflects Jesus’ selflessness. Try to reflect on the meaning in this Psalm and see how it applies to your own life.

“I will praise You, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing Your praise. I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your name for Your unfailing love and Your faithfulness, for You have so exalted Your solemn decree that it surpasses Your fame. When I called, You answered me; You greatly emboldened me. May all the kings of the earth praise You, Lord, when they hear what You have decreed. May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great. Though the Lord is exalted, He looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, He sees them from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life. You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my foes; with Your right hand, You save me. The Lord will vindicate me; Your love, Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.” (Psalms 138)

Psalms for Praise

The old saying, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” isn’t very true. Words can be powerful tools for either evil or good. It’s amazing how often certain words show up in Scripture that point to something we instantly recognize as godly. These may be words we use almost exclusively with worship. Words like: sanctify, devotional, righteous, and holy, are just a few. 

Paul sums up the proper attitude to have in worship, and in life for that matter, in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” As he shares the three qualities that should be utmost in our lives, these words also reflect an attitude of praise that God longs to see in us. 

But there was a collection of Hebrew poems and songs that were made into five books that focus on lamentations and praises. It’s a book we typically know as Psalms. Oftentimes attributed to David even though only 73 actually bear his name, they all help us better know how to praise God. In fact, the first two chapters remind us that those who meditate on God’s words, His promises, and even His laws will be blessed. Therefore, those who take refuge in Him will find comfort during difficult times (songs of lament) as well as fuel for praise for all times. 

There are a few words that we see periodically throughout Psalms that may not be common words for us in our language, but they were quite impactful in the Hebrew culture. Two words I want to share with you are: Selah and Hallel. Selah’s meaning is not completely understood, but most scholars agree that it’s a word that describes taking a rest and meditating. This might be equivalent to a guitar solo in a song. But it serves as a reminder to slow down! 

The word Hallel means to praise, and we are more familiar with the command version of it, Hallelujah, which means "Praise the Lord!" In the book of Psalms, the last five Psalms (146-150) are designed to focus exclusively on praising God. However, at the end of each book there’s a common ending that serves as a reminder to praise God regardless of our circumstances, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.” (Psalms 41:13, 72:18-19, 89:15, 106:48). 

It’s not always easy to be in the mindset to praise God, but having a constant meditation on His character and His promises will definitely help motivate us to reflect on His most precious Word that God ever gave us—Jesus!

The Hardest Part?

In the board game Clue and in the online game Among Us, the objective is to determine who the killer is. Thankfully, determining who is the gruesome killer is not a decision most of us ever have to worry about. But that doesn’t mean doing investigative work to make sure WE aren’t the bad guy is a decision we are free from. Unfortunately, many people choose not to look too deep into who they are, how they treat others, or how they respond to temptations.

Jesus gave a powerful summary of the entire Bible in Matthew 22:37-39, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5) This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Leviticus 19:18)

At face value, this seems like an oversimplification of 66 inspired books that outline laws, rituals, and examples of good and bad followers of those laws and rituals. However, when we ponder the depth of what Jesus is revealing, we see a self-directed investigation of our own thoughts and motives.

First, a clearer picture of that command is given in 1 John 4:19-21, “We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

So, loving our neighbor is key to truly loving God. But loving our neighbor is obviously the more challenging command. However, what makes loving my neighbor so difficult? Consider the endless examples of greed, jealousy, lust, or revenge we read about in the Scriptures. Those are emotions that can dominate our life, unless we do as God told Cain in Genesis 4:7, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” In other words, we have to control ourselves. That part of us that can’t accept who we are because we’re constantly comparing ourselves to someone else. That part of ourselves that only sees our failures and can’t see the blessings in life.

What if we were the source of division and hatred towards our brothers and sisters? It’s an awful thought, but David realized the need to examine himself to make sure that wasn’t so. Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

James 4:1-3, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Stay With the Plan

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there were often times when those who made the choice to follow Him weren't clear about His real mission (John 6:35-59, Mark 8:14-38). Their lack of understanding caused them to question His motives, or maybe even His sanity. Yet, Jesus stayed true to the plan; He kept pursuing the way to redeem humankind.

Romans 5:6-8, “You see,. at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… (8) God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Sometimes we are put in awkward situations, stressful situations, or scary situations where we must press on towards the prize, even when no one else “gets it.” Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Each of us has to decide to continue to follow God’s plan even when it seems risky or insane. All throughout the story of God’s guidance to the Promised Land, those who chose to follow had to go against human fear and even against logic at times.

The more we “see” His plan, the more we can see how our obedience to that plan isn’t risky or careless or insane. God knows that when we trust Him enough to do what he told us to do and modeled through His son, that we will reach the prize we all long to have: eternal life! No more death! Peace!

1 Peter 1:3-7, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”