Praise - by Warwick Langman
When we come together on a Sunday morning and we sing and play music, that's not the only time we worship. In fact, all throughout everyday we are worshipping something or someone. In its strictest sense, worship is simply declaring something to be supremely worthy or valuable or important.
We don't only do this with our words though. How we spend our energy and who we spend time with show where we place worth. However, declaring worth with our lips is the pinnacle of our worship. Consider Luke 19:40 where Jesus is asked by the Pharisees to tell His followers to stop praising Him. In response He says
“If they [that is the people praising Jesus] kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
Rocks naturally, as part of creation, show that God is good and declare His praises. Consider Psalm 19:1-4 which says
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Yet Jesus says that should people not praise Him, the rocks WILL cry out. The rocks will increase their praise when the speak. The last devotion I shared touched on this point of the power of words too!
So, consider these questions as we worship God with all of our lives.
How are you going at worshipping God in your work/school/retired life? Are you doing this with your words? Can you possibly be doing this better? How?
Do you speak the praises of God more than your favourite TV Show/Football team?