Praise God!

“I will praise God’s name with song 

and exalt Him with thanksgiving. 

That will please Yahweh more than an ox, 

more than a bull with horns and hooves.”

Psalms 69:30-31 

Praise is a beautiful thing, like praising a child for a job well done at a science project or the praise of a lover for being attractive, but what is the meaning of praise? 

Praise is adoration.

Praise necessitates contemplation.

Praise is uplifting and buoys the heart of the praised. 

Praise renders a person to joy. 

Who gets more out of praise?  

The one who is praising or the one who is praised?

Before we answer that we should define what "more" is.  More what?  

The praiser gets more out of praise if joy is the main substance.  However, if being the object of affection is the substance then the one being praise obviously gets more.  

So looking at the two it would mean pinpointing what it is you want more of in one's life.  Are you living for the joy set before you or to be the object of praise?

If praise feels good--being praised by others--it's because feeling like the object of affection is really nice.  And, if you love to praise it means you have found joy in the objects of your affection.  Such as praising a child or a lover.  

“I will praise (to become a praiser)

God’s name (object of our praise) 

with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. 

That will please Yahweh (the praised)

more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.” 

Psalms 69:30-31

To praise God is perfectly good because God is an eternal object of praise.  

This means that our joy is fueled from His existence, and when we praise we have affections for our object of praise being stirred within us:  we have love and joy in our hearts because we have an object at which our praise can be directed towards.  When the object of our affection is praised we get joy, because that is the goal and saturation of what or who we are finding joy in beholding, but if the object of our affections dies, our joy dies too.  It is like a plug without an outlet.  We have an ability to praise but no object to direct it towards when the object disintegrates.  Which is why God is the perfect object of our affections, because He cannot ever die or disintegrate.  When our joy is plugged into God we have an endless supply of His existence to keep our joy alive forever.  

So what is the wrong kind of praise?  Well, perhaps instead of the word wrong it would be more descriptive to use the word temporary.  There is a praise or a joy that comes from praising things that make us happy, but those things may not last.  In fact, we know most things will not last, and their mortality makes us rush to get all the joy out of them that we can before it dies or disintegrates.  This is called rushing toward fatality.  People live with this kind of joy all the time.  To find something and then hold on to it for as long as possible until it dies or fades out.  They know it will...one day.  So they do what they can until that day comes. 

Is that the only way to live or is there a way to live that does not rush toward the reality of all things being temporary.  Sometimes that kind of life can make life fun, but it cannot erase the fact that when objects of our affections die our joy in them must die too.  It's all fun and games until ...it's not.  

So, can we live for eternity?  

For all things being forever?  

And if so, which is better and why? 

These are the things I think about. 

I think God desires for us to have joy for all eternity, and that is why He made us for Himself.  Once we find our main source of joy in Him we are more able to enjoy the temporary joys in this life as well.  Understanding that they will come to an end, but that's okay because our true joy will never come to an end so long as our true object of affections remains alive.  

Praise God, praise God, praise God! 

What stirs or gets your affections for Christ going?  What makes you fall more and more deeply in love with Him?  If you don't know, then seeking to know or find out would be a worthwhile venture.  

Fall in love with God today. 

Jmegrey