Holy Habits: Praise

If Jesus gets in on the act of praise as a common activity, it makes sense that praise is a holy habit.

When I think of what it is to praise and the heart from which it comes, there are a lot of good reasons why praise is an essential holy habit.

I asked my youngest daughter if she knew what praise meant. She said no. I then asked her to show me her reaction if she discovered she was going to get her favourite toy. The sound of her voice, the look on her face, the sheer delight that radiated from her was something I could use to help her understand a bit more what praise was about.

It remains a pity that for some I know praise is limited to what noise is made in a gathering of believers after a song or sometimes during it. It’s an even bigger pity to me that for some saying Hallelujah is their idea of praise. Especially considering the word itself is as much an instruction as it is a statement. That instruction is an invitation to express that delight we can have in God.

To do that requires the right heart and attitude. False praise is pointless. Praise lacking in authenticity is no praise at all. The pure and unrefined expression of it that bursts through every pore of your being is more than evident when it comes to other things in which we take delight. Whether it’s the heights of sexual intimacy or the exhilaration in seeing your team win the stages of praise and adoration runs a far wider range than just saying a word or making a noise.

When this is focused on God and all He is and all He does, it plays a crucial role in engaging with the Holy One. To praise Him is to know Him and to know Him is to experience Him and to experience Him compels a response. The heart to offer that response as you grow in knowing Him more is purified as the relationship deepens. If you intentionally set your mind on what it is to praise Him.

I love the variety of ways we are encouraged to praise Him. Verbally, on instruments, through song, in written, through physical expressions. It’s gloriously inclusive and expansive. In an exuberant dance or through a solitary tear that rolls down the cheek in recognition of just how good He is. Making a habit of praising God places the focus where it belongs and puts things in the perspective in which they belong.

Scripture has many episodes of people in tough circumstances and trying times confounding their surroundings by magnifying and glorifying God. It’s a tremendous habit to develop and one that can be cultivated by small intentional tasks like thanking God for specific things. Making it a reaction to give Him thanks and then taking it from there to ponder examples in the Scripture of men and women practicing praise in their circumstances. Letting those pondering moments inform your practise of praise and see what it does to your view of God and then your view on what He has created.

I recommend praise as a holy habit for you.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden