A Musical Devotion On PraiseExemplo

"When Should We Praise?"

The Scriptures are very clear that our praise should flow in and out of the four streams of our life experience: in the now, when we don’t feel like it, when we do feel like it, and for the good of ourselves and others.

Every “NOW” moment is a time to praise God because every day is a day that the Lord has made. We can rejoice and be glad in it. Nothing can steal this joy! It is of course true that we can praise when we feel like it, but let’s consider Paul’s words and circumstances when he writes to the Philippians that we should “Rejoice, I again say rejoice.” Paul wrote these words when he was in prison, and he penned these words as he was trying to mediate a destructive disagreement between two women, Euodia and Syntyche, at the church in Philippi. Praise, and rejoicing, in Paul’s theology, clearly transcends our feelings either good or bad, and rejoicing is clearly a remedy for conflict. Praise benefits us in everyway in even the most detrimental situations.

This brings us to our verse in Colossians. Notice as you read it that our praise is to be done out of thankful heart for the admonishment of others. I’m not quite sure which comes first, praise or thankfulness—the chicken or the egg—but our praise springs from thankfulness and results in more thanksgiving welling up on the inside of us. In this fashion, praise is instructive. We carry the truths of Jesus in our manner and in our song, and the truths of the words and our actions admonish and uplift others; causing them to praise God as well.

When we praise God in the now, and under any circumstance, it builds us up and it edifies and advances God’s mission through and in his church.

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