If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
As it turns out, praising God isn’t such a big deal after all.
If the heavens are telling the glory of God and the earth is showing forth His handiwork, if day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge, if rocks would cry out at the hindrance of the children’s free and natural praise should the Son of God walk by, then, as the highest form of His created order, for us not to praise Him would be the ultimate arrogance, and to think that praising Him is serving Him in some way as if He needed it, or as if we were doing Him a favor, is to approach Him with an arrogance of no less magnitude.
At the risk of sounding anti-praise, I am merely wondering if praise might have replaced other more important things as the desirable thing to pursue when it should be nothing more than a given. Has praise become the new darling of the church — something to busy ourselves with while skirting other more demanding calls of God? Is it now praise instead of love that covers over a multitude of sins? Is it now faith, hope and love that remain, but the greatest of these is praise? It does appear sometimes that no matter what we are doing wrong, praise will somehow make it right, and yet the Old Testament is full of God’s weariness with lips that praise Him while hearts are far away from Him and feet are quick to do evil.
Praise is important, but not something to make such a big deal about when everything else God created is already engaged in the moment by moment expression of this through their being as a natural course of events. Let’s worship Him, but let’s not blow any big horns over it. Let’s worship Him, but let’s not presume to ever be giving Him anything more than what He is due.
We don’t enter into praise for what we will get out of it, or what God will get out of it. We praise simply because it is right and reasonable to do so. To attach anything more to this is to presume undue importance upon ourselves.
Besides, we could worship God with tongues of men and even angels, but if we are lacking in just one thing called love – something that seems to be harder to find among Christians lately than it is to find praise — then Paul says that all the praise in the world isn’t going to amount to a hill of beans.
John Fischer The Catch 
Ive always heard that God would much rather have our obedience, than our praise. Obedience shows where our heart is….
I think you are quoting the Lord here!
I think praise is simply saying “Thank you.” I think God just wants us to appreciate Him, whether it is in song, tongues or just saying, “Thanks, Dad.” I also think He wants us to recognize our sinfulness by saying, “I’m sorry.” Those two phrases – “Thank you” and “I’m sorry” are the two most powerful things we can say, not only to God, but to anyone, because we are, in essence, saying, “I appreciate you,” and “I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate you.” Appreciating God and others is a big deal.
Thanks, John, for causing me to think today.
I agree with you Waitsel, I think Thank you and I’m sorry are two very important and powerful things we can say.
A friend once shared a list she had come across of the ten most important words we can say to one another: I’m sorry; I was wrong; please forgive me; I love you.
And I agree with you, Waitsel, that “thank you” and “I appreciate you” belong there, too.
As a church musician, I do not make a distinction between praise, worship and love for God, nor is it possible to truly praise and worship God without living out that “worth-ship” in love for (and acknowledging the infinite worth in God’s sight of) our fellow human beings, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Your devotional is a good reminder of the necessary connection between worship and service (of love) in the world for whom Christ died.
I’m writing also because I am going to be in Anaheim this coming Sunday 5/12, and I was looking forward to going to the Irvine Presbyterian Church and meeting you face-to-face (F2F) for the first time. I’m disappointed if the series is resuming on the 19th, skipping this coming Sunday. Maybe we can arrange to meet during the week sometime. Blessings, John
Darn. We will resume on the 19th. Hope you can come then.
Back in the 70’s as I remember it, when we got together in our little groups and spent time in praise we focused on what God brought us out of and how great he is. As time went on and Christian music became a business marketed to Christians the songs became silly and sounded more like singing to a prom date, and feeling good about ourselves turned out to be the point of worship. I hate it when “praise” is used to create a mood meant to manipulate a programmed response.
Praise has turned into a way we try to usher God in our presence, but I think the way we use it today only ushers in a mood.
Although I am probably a little too cynical I think your statement, “We don’t enter into praise for what we will get out of it, or what God will get out of it. We praise simply because it is right and reasonable to do so. To attach anything more to this is to presume undue importance upon ourselves.” is down to earth and something we can do anytime.
All that said I don’t try and decide if someone else is praising god or not, I just know when I am not doing it.
I kind of know what you’re getting at–I recently heard a song on a Christian XM Radio station that sounded like the artist was singing to his girlfriend or wife, rather than God. Wow…
I also wanted to say that I find that even some of the old hymns cause me to raise my hands in praise to God. It’s not that I think I’m not really praising unless I have my hands in the air; sometimes, it seems as though only singing the words is just not enough!
Working with high school kids in a Christian School setting, we enter “worship chapels” to “get our praise on” and other such silly things. Worship is the singing time before the message. Praise seems to be the up-tempo tunes toward the top of the playlist. It’s all very trite. And programmatic. Of course we only sing songs that we hear (top) forty times on our Pandora or whatever, regardless of the writer’s intent. And usually too high for everybody to enter in…
Personally, I love singing songs to God! Some of them fill me with awe, such as “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me, some make me cry such as “Here I am To Worship” by Michael Smith. I can feel God smiling when I sing out loud, no matter where it is. Sometimes at home, sometimes in my truck…where ever….