Barbara's Banter

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

I guess some idioms will soon be obsolete. Those who grow up reading books on Kindles may one day not even know what judging a book by its cover means. Perhaps a better way to say it would be to look beneath the surface. In other words, we shouldn’t judge one’s quality, talent, or character just by looking at their outward appearance.

Britain’s Got Talent, the British counterpart to our American Idol, found that out when a frumpy-looking 48-year-old unemployed volunteer decided to try out for the television show a few years ago. The audience was skeptical and judges rolled their eyes until Susan Boyle sang her inspiring rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. A standing ovation followed and so did a new career.

Our human tendency is to make evaluations based on outward appearances. We might think a man is poor because he wears raggedy clothes and drives an old car, but he could be a millionaire. Someone might look wealthy and be a big spender, but he may have maxed-out credit cards and a house in foreclosure.

In today’s superficial world, people tend to judge by appearance. We make wrong assumptions when we judge someone’s character by what appears on the surface. Meekness is not weakness. Sociability is not spirituality. Loquaciousness is not intellect. Using wisdom is not cowardice. Having biblical knowledge does not mean one is close to God.

The scribes and Pharisees appeared spiritual on the surface, yet they judged Jesus and His disciples’ religiosity because they saw them eating without washing their hands. That was a definite no-no against their purity laws which were a big deal at the time. These laws were what the religious hierarchy used to determine one’s devotion to God. (Mark 7:1-8) Some thought Jesus was a glutton and drunkard because he ate and drank with sinners. (Luke 7:34) They didn’t know they were criticizing the very Son of God.

Samuel would have chosen Jesse’s first born son Eliab to replace King Saul. After all, he was tall, handsome, and athletic. When Samuel saw him he said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here.” (1 Samuel 16:6, 7) But God refused him because God looks on the heart, not the outward appearance. So a lowly shepherd boy name David was chosen instead.

When God wanted someone to deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt, He did not choose an eloquent speaker. He chose Moses who was not what you would call dynamic. In fact, he was slow of speech; perhaps he even stuttered. (Exodus 4:10) Yet he was a man of God. (Deuteronomy 33:1)

Consider this… Making snap judgments based on appearances can lead to prejudice, segregation, and stereotyping. Yet, it is easier to judge quickly than to take the time to get to know people.

Only through knowing people can we determine how they think or feel and where their hearts are. Only by looking beyond the surface can we discover those hidden qualities, talents, or character traits worth finding.

One final thought… Jumping to conclusions about someone based on outward appearance can have you leaping in the wrong direction.

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Galatians 5:22 tells us that faithfulness is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. The Greek word for faithfulness here “pistos” means to be trusted, reliable, believing, firmly persuaded, and having deep conviction. Other meanings would be standing fast, steadfast, loyal, devoted, trustworthy, dependable, resolute, and honest. It also speaks of endurance and a firmness of purpose that supersedes a just “grin and bear it” attitude when the living gets tough.

“Pistos” is a powerful little word. It’s a very positive, active attribute of character and much needed in today’s flippant, irresponsible world.

God sets the example in faithfulness. He is the source and standard of faithfulness which He has demonstrated in His dealings with the human race. The great old hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness comes to mind. We can count on God to be faithful. He does not change. He doesn’t get tired, weary, or fed up with the passing of time. He is not slack concerning His promises. (2 Peter 3:9) That’s why we can totally trust Him.

How many of us have trusted medicine but found it didn’t solve our ills, investors but found they were crooks, spouses but found out they committed adultery, evangelists but found they were preaching one way and living another, or politicians but found out they lied? It’s a disillusioning world. Yet, God is always faithful! He is the Rock of a foundation upon which we can build our lives.

Faithfulness conveys the concept that someone will be there when needed. God tells us He will always be there for us. He will never leave or forsake us. What about us? Are we faithful to God and to others? Life is a training ground for faithfulness. Handling little things with consistency, steadiness, and faithfulness is how we learn to be faithful in all things.

When Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, archaeologists discovered many people buried in different positions, in places they ran for safety such as attic chambers or deep vaults. However, the Roman soldier who stood as a sentinel was found standing at the gate of the city where he had been stationed with his hands still grasping his spear. There, while the earth shook beneath him and floods of ashes and cinders overwhelmed him, he stood. He did not abandon his post even when he was engulfed by the hot, molten rock.  There he was unearthed after a 1000 years.

The Parable of the Bags of Gold teaches us that each of us has been placed on earth as a caretaker of God’s business. We have been given a portion of life and charged with the responsibility of taking care of it, increasing it, investing it, and presenting it back to God. (Matthew 24:14-30)

Consider this… Most of us are average people, not spectacular, but we can all be faithful. What have we done with what God has given us?  No one is equal in talents, but we can all be equal in our efforts to use our talents. Faithfulness is so important that God tells us “…let love and faithfulness never leave you.” We are to write them in our hearts. (Proverbs 3:3)

One final thought… God really didn’t call us to be successful. He called us to be faithful. The faithful person is dependable in all of life’s circumstances.

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

 I love beautiful flowers but must admit I don’t have a green thumb. When someone gives me a plant, the family takes bets on how soon it will die. I’m still hanging onto a Christmas cactus my cousin gave me last year and have high hopes it will bloom in December. We’ll see??!!

However, my husband’s roses are the envy of the neighborhood. Once he had the most gorgeous climbing mandevillas. These four plants produced large pink flowers that spread across our front fence. Even strangers marveled at their beauty. Imagine our shock when we returned from a trip to find the vines cut straight across about 10 inches from the ground. The plants, roots and all, were gone.

It took us a few days to notice them missing because the flowers looked as lovely as usual. It was disheartening when we noticed our loss. Whom does one call in a situation like this? The potted plant patrol? The horticulture police? The lawn lawyer? The mandevilla militia? It was all I could do not to wish the culprits ill will. What kind of a warped person steals plants from someone’s front yard? I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for them or wish they’d get an incurable case of poison oak.

At first the flowers appeared to flourish and looked as good as ever. If you didn’t know the roots were gone, you’d have never suspected they were slowly dying. It was sad to see them one by one wilt and turn brown. The top blooms looked like they were reaching for the sun, clinging to life – but to no avail. Without the mother plants and roots, they couldn’t make it.

It reminds me of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. (NIV) Some seeds fell along the path on the wayside. Some fell on stony ground. Some fell among thorns. Some fell on good ground. (v. 3-8) These seeds represent the Word of God. (v. 18 -23) Those that fell among the rocks represent people who receive the Word with joy and gladness but the seed doesn’t really take root.

Because these believers are filled with joy, no one would ever know they aren’t really rooted in Jesus Christ. By all appearances, they look like they are flourishing. They bloom a little and, like our dying mandevillas, they look like they are growing, but without roots they are doomed to wither and die. They believe and endure for a time. However, when tempted, afflicted, persecuted, or offended, they fall away. They do not persevere.

So I guess the question is, “Where are our roots?” Are we rooted in Jesus Christ? Are we rooted in the Word of God? Are we seeking to do the will of the Father? Are we developing an intimate relationship with Him on a daily basis? Or do we just come to church every week giving the appearance we are growing and flourishing. If so, when the trials come, we won’t make it.

Consider this… If we aren’t rooted in Christ, we might make it through temptation, affliction, or persecution only to have the least little offense do us in. Those close to God cannot be uprooted. (Proverbs 12:3)

One final thought… Those rooted in Christ are like trees planted by streams of water and yield fruit in due season. (Psalm 1:3)

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Stress used to be an engineering term. Years ago people were anxious, nervous, worried, or fretful but not stressed. In the 1950s, stress became a psychological term referring to conditions brought on by major catastrophes in a person’s life such as death, divorce, or life-threatening disease. Today, just getting out of bed could be a stress factor.

Here are some things recent research says causes stress: being married, not being married, having children, not having children, having a job, not having a job, working more than 40 hours a week, working less than 40 hours a week, retirement, your spouse’s job, your spouse not having a job, having sex, not having sex, taking a vacation, not taking a vacation, having family outings, not having family outings, playing the stock market, not playing the stock market, and so on and so forth. You might say, “You’re stressed if you do and you’re stressed if you don’t!” It has us coming and going.

Many turn to religion thinking that God in His infinite wisdom will miraculously take away all stress. Unfortunately, the Christian way of life is not promised to be stress-free. Just look at the great leaders in the Bible and ask yourself, “Were they stressed?”

Abraham and Sarah were elderly when they had Isaac. Noah had to build an ark without a cloud in the sky. Rahab put her life on the line for spies. Elijah hid in a cave from Jezebel. Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. Daniel was cast into a lion’s den. David fled for his life from Saul. Job lost everything he had.

Joseph was a know-it-all teenager who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, alienated his brothers, was sold into slavery, and cast into prison for many years before he became a prominent advisor to the king of Egypt.

Moses killed a man, fled Egypt for many years, reluctantly agreed to lead the children of Israel to freedom, dealt with mumbling Israelites, struck a rock in frustration, and didn’t even get to see the Promised Land.

Do you think they were stressed?

It’s estimated today that 75% of all illnesses are stress-related. Dr. Archibald Hart’s book Adrenaline and Stress states, “Stress disease is different from most forms of illness, we bring it on ourselves!”  We live in a 24/7 world. Society demands more and more of us, but many times we give in to demands when we don’t need to. Only we can decide what our personal limitations and priorities are. Even with that, we only have so much control.

A relationship with God will not take away stress but it will give us a coping mechanism to pass all understanding by the world’s standards. (Philippians 4:7) How else could Paul say that he could be troubled but not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed? (2 Corinthians 4) Paul knew his existence and ours was for God’s glory, not our own.

Consider this… God doesn’t take the trouble away all the time, but He does help us walk through it.

One final thought… Sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes he calms the child. Either way, He helps us cope with the stress in our lives.

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

As we enter the Thanksgiving season, I’m reminded of an old sampler in my grandmother’s house with the following words:

Count your blessings instead of your crosses.

Count your gains instead of your losses.

Count your smiles instead of your tears.

Count your courage instead of your fears.

Count your health instead of your wealth.

Love your neighbor as much as yourself.

I truly love anything to do with counting blessings. I love the old hymn lyrics “…name them one by one.” I love to hear Bing and Rosie warble “…count your blessings instead of sheep” in the movie White Christmas. I love a day that focuses on being thankful. Counting blessings keeps us focused on what really counts!

Thanksgiving often gets slighted in department store decorations that usually morph from Halloween into Christmas without giving Thanksgiving a proper nod. I guess a big turkey and Pilgrims dressed in drab costumes can’t compete with spooky witches or goblins and colorful Christmas trees. But on the other hand, maybe it’s okay. We shouldn’t really need to be reminded to be thankful, should we???? It should be a daily mindset instead of a once a year activity.

The older I get, the more I realize how many blessings I enjoy. For me just breathing, sleeping, and being able to get out of bed in the morning have become reasons to rejoice. And what a privilege it is to have clean food to eat, decent water to drink, shelter from a storm, and warm clothing in winter. Basics? Yes! But these are basics many people live without.

Living in the U.S. affords us many freedoms other parts of the world do without. Perhaps there is more government involvement in our lives than we wish, but freedom of religion is still a privilege many countries don’t offer. We can still openly worship God and read the Bible without fear of retribution. In other words, think of what we have, not what we don’t have.

The Pilgrims understood this better than anyone. It is said that in the first year in this new land, they made seven times more graves than huts. Still, when the harvest was in, they gave thanks to God. They knew how to count their blessings instead of crosses and losses. Hmm? That reminds me of my grandmother’s sampler.

Consider this… Those who truly understand the meaning of Thanksgiving know Who is responsible for every blessing they have.

Once final thought… “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord…” (Psalm 92:1, KJV)

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

My last blog explored the subject of fear from a spiritual perspective. We discussed having a healthy fear of God and learned that fearing God in the right way can bring benefits. God doesn’t want us to unnecessarily tremble in His sight but He does want us to respect His power, acknowledge His holiness, worship His majesty, and reverence Him in our lives. This is not a bad thing. As we build a relationship with the living God, we realize He is a God of love and only wants the best for us.

Fear is a good thing, when kept in perspective. There is a healthy kind of fear that comes with wisdom or heeding caution. It keeps us from jumping off the side of a building thinking we can fly, picking up a rattlesnake thinking we won’t get bit, or driving 150 miles per hour thinking we won’t have an accident.

However, some fears paralyze us, keep us from doing what we should or could do, and prevent us from living a fuller, richer life, which is what God wants for us. Fear is an emotion we humans struggle with, so it’s only natural God would speak of it so often in the Bible – encouraging us not to fall into its grip. We should control our fears, not let our fears control us. Of course this is easier said than done.

Psalm 34:4 tells us that God delivers us from our fear, when we seek Him. Seeking God is a key to overcoming fear. However, this seeking of God is not just so He will deliver us from our trials or fears. We seek God so we can place our trust and faith in Him. It’s this faith and trust in God that calms our anxious hearts.

God has to continually remind us that He is with us.

God commanded Joshua to “be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NLT)

David wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4-6)

God told Isaiah, “Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Sometimes we forget that God is with us. Wherever we go, God is with us.

Consider this… Whatever we encounter, God is with us. We lose sight of this when our focus turns from God to ourselves.

God is all powerful, omnipotent, sovereign, and in control. We should be extolling God at all times. (Psalm 34:1) Our praise for Him should be continually on our lips. Our goal should be to keep ourselves in a perpetual relationship with God – rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and thanking God in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

If we do this, we won’t have to worry about overcoming fear. God will do it for us!

One final thought… I think there is some wisdom in this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”

Yet, Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Proverbs has much to say about the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” What exactly does that mean? Does it mean we tremble with fear every time God’s name is mentioned? The dictionary definition of fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”

Does God want us feel that He is dangerous, a threat or likely to cause us pain? I don’t think so. Although some who don’t really know God could interpret it that way. Some live in a constant state of anxiety thinking if they displease God, He will open the trap door to hell. That’s just not true! However, God does want us to realize He is all powerful! When we know or recognize God as our Creator and our Master, we have reverence and awe for who He is, what He’s done, and what He can do.

Thinking of God as a loving Father can help us relate because there is a certain kind of fear or respect that a child has for a parent. Children realize parents have power over them. However, if the parents love them and use their power wisely, children know they are loved. There will be consequences for wrong behavior, but children know the motive will be love and what is best for them. Then the children want to please their parents not out of anxiety, but out of love.

The same applies with fearing God. If we have a deep reverence for God and His love for us, we want to please Him – not because we feel frightened if we don’t, but because we know it reaps the right result.

If we are aware of God’s awesome presence in our lives, we will fear Him in the right way. We will not be frightened of Him. We will acknowledge His holiness, embrace Him, and reverence Him in our lives. We will want to honor him in everything we do. He will be our priority and come first in our lives.

There are blessings of fearing God and giving Him His rightful place in our lives. It brings…

• Knowledge (Proverbs 1:7)
• Humility (Proverbs 3:7)
• Wisdom (Proverbs 9:10)
• Recognition of evil (Proverbs 8:13)
• Departure from evil (Proverbs 16:6)
• Satisfaction (Proverbs 9:23)
• Prolonged life (Proverbs 10:27)
• Confidence (Proverbs 14:26)
• Spiritual insight (Proverbs 14:27)
• Contentment (Proverbs 15:16)
• Great blessings (Proverbs 22:4)

Consider this… Oswald Chambers had an interesting thought on the fear of God. He said, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that, when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. It goes on to say, “…but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The choice is simple. Fear God and gain blessings. It would be foolish to do otherwise.

One final thought… Could the reason we fear men so much is because we don’t have the proper fear of God? Charles Spurgeon once said, “He who fears God has nothing else to fear.”

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Evonne and I have been friends since the second grade and believe me, that’s a long time. Even as kids, we had an uncanny ability to know what the other one was thinking and laugh, laugh, laugh. We’ve shared the good times and the bad, but through it all we’ve always felt God’s presence and guiding hand in our lives. We do not see eye to eye on every minor theological tenet, but our belief in God has cemented our relationship and strengthened our bond.

Sadly, friendships like ours are becoming a thing of the past. Our society touts hundreds of friends on Facebook. We can now have more friends on Facebook than we’ve actually met in real life. However, sociologists at Cornell University have found most Americans have fewer close confidants now than they did a generation ago. While people appear to be just as social as ever, friendships are shallower leaving us to go through tough times alone.

Medical researchers have found that those who have close friends tend to be happier, healthier, and live longer than those who don’t. Having friends has numerous physical and spiritual benefits. According to the Mayo Clinic, in addition to preventing loneliness and giving companionship, friends can…

• Increase your sense of purpose
• Help the body’s autoimmune system resist disease
• Help you cope with trauma such as divorce, illness, death, job loss
• Promote brain health

Overall, medical and psychological studies prove that people who have one or more close friends are in better health than those who have only casual friends or no friends at all. In fact, studies say that maintaining positive relationships should rank up there with healthy eating and exercise as a necessary investment in your health.

In order to have friends, we need to learn how to be a good friend. Here is what the Bible says about real friends…

• Proverbs 17:17: They love at all times. They know us, accept our weaknesses and imperfections, but love us anyway.
• Proverbs 27:17: They give us a different perspective like “iron sharpening iron.” This also indicates a certain respect friends have for each other because iron cannot sharpen iron unless opinions are respected even though not agreed upon.
• Proverbs 27:9: They give wise counsel in a tactful way.
• Proverbs 27:5, 6: Even if a friend has to tell us something we don’t want to hear, it’s better because we know we can trust them.
• Proverbs 18:24: Friends are with you through thick and thin – sometimes closer than family.
• Ecclesiastes 4:8-12: Friends lift you up and strengthen you. It passage says, “Two are better than one because if one falls down the other one helps him up.” Friends form a bond that is not easily broken.

Of course our best friend is Jesus. He accepts us unconditionally. He loves us when we are unlovable. He wants to spend time with us. He’ll never leave or forsake us. He wants only the best for us. He rejoices with us when we accomplish something. He comforts us when we are weary. He picks us up when we fall. He stays with us when we are frightened. He cries with us when we are sad. He laughs with us when we are happy.

Consider this… God created us to be relational. The Father, Son, and Spirit are relational and invite us into that relationship with them and others.

Those of us who are blessed with a few close friends can be very thankful. Those who aren’t might want to increase contact with other believers so friendships can develop.

Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect; they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God’s people.”

One final thought…

True friends aren’t the ones who make your problems disappear. They are the ones who don’t disappear when you have problems.

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Years ago an article in Discover Magazine entitled Sight Unseen caught my eye. It recounted the true story of Mike May, a man who lost his sight at the age of 3 when a jar of lantern fuel fell and exploded in his face. But Mike was not going to let being blind slow him down. He played flag football and soccer in school. He held the world speed record for downhill skiing by a blind person. He earned a master’s degree in international affairs at Johns Hopkins, worked for the CIA, and became president of a company that made talking Global Positioning Systems for the blind. He even found time to marry and have two children. Then, with modern technology, a miraculous surgery gave him back his sight.

According to the surgeons, May’s eyes were given a lens that ought to provide crystal clear vision. But…it didn’t. Since Mike May was blind from childhood, his brain had never been programmed to fully process the visual information it received. Therefore, Mike had to still use his seeing-eye dog and walk by tapping the sidewalk with his cane. He was a blind man with vision. Sight signals went to the brain but they were not being interpreted well. He should have been able to discern letters on an eye chart from 25 feet away but he could only see them at 2 feet away. He couldn’t distinguish a cube from a sphere. Basically, although Mike had his sight restored, he had to learn to see which is still an ongoing process.

This article helped me to realize how amazing it was when Jesus healed the man blind from birth in John 9. Of course, it was a miracle that the man gained sight, but according to the scientific data we now have available to us, it was a miracle he could see clearly after Jesus gave him his sight.

In Luke 18, a blind beggar was persistent in shouting to Jesus as He passed. Was Jesus asking a foolish question when He said, “What do you want of me?” It was obvious that the blind beggar wanted to see. “Lord, I want to see.” Perhaps Jesus knew that gaining sight is a tricky thing. When we gain sight, sometimes we don’t see as well as we would like. Sometimes we see things we don’t want to see.

Spiritually speaking, God does not wish us to be blind. He wants to reveal His truth to us. He wants us to have minds ready to assimilate that truth. He wants us to see clearly. But do we really want to see?

Consider this… To see means we might have to actually study the Bible rather than just rely on what we think it says. To see means we might have to not only believe what God says but act on it. To see means we might have to learn how to worship God in spirit and truth. To see means we might need to reevaluate why we do what we do. To see means that things may be hazy for a little while until our brains program the information. To see means we might actually need to change.

Being able to see is a much more complicated process than we might think. Still, it beats the alternative to staying blind. Just ask Mike May.

One last thought…

When I sing the worship song Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord, it has much more meaning for me now. After all, I don’t want to have sight without vision.

Yet Another Year of Choices

By Barbara Dahlgren

Praising God is so much more than just singing songs each week in church services, although that can be a part of it. It’s realizing how BIG God is and how little we are.

It reminds me of the chorus from a song called Yakko’s Universe. Yakko is one of the cartoon characters from Animaniacs, an animated comedy series from the 1990s that I used to watch with my son. The lyrics went something like this…

“It’s a great big universe and we’re all really puny. We’re just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney. It’s big and black and inky and we are small and dinky. It’s a big universe and we’re not.”

That’s how it is with God. He’s a great BIG God and we’re not. That’s the first step. We realize that God is BIG and powerful and great.

Then this great, big, powerful God who owns the universe sacrifices His Son so we can have salvation. WOW! He says, “Come and follow Me and I will care for you. My Son has paid the penalty for your sin. I will wipe your slate clean. I will supply all your needs. I will forgive you. I will let you start anew. I will be with you in the good times and the bad times. You will never be alone. I will give you strength. I will lift the burdens of this world off your shoulders. I will give you rest. I will give you comfort. I will give you hope. I will give you eternal life. I will give you true love.”

When this sinks in with us, we cannot comprehend the wonder of it all. As we do gain understanding, we fall to our knees. We cry. We repent. We surrender. This is where praise begins…with a certain brokenness.

Suddenly we see God face-to-face. We see Him everywhere. We see His strength in a thunderstorm. We see His peace in a sleeping baby. We see His majesty in a towering mountain. We see His joy in a laughing child. We see His beauty in a vibrant sunset. We see His vastness in a star-filled sky. We see His guidance in our lives. When we see God face-to-face, our focus changes. We arise from bed in the morning blessing Him. We thank Him as we drive the car. We want to walk with Him. We talk with Him throughout the day. We meditate on His greatness, His power, His love. We whisper the name of Jesus. We shout for joy. We realize the reason we live is to worship Him.

Men build doctrines around the interpretation of one scripture and ignore the hundreds that say to praise God. Why? Could it be easier to academically pontificate on hidden meanings than to totally surrender our hearts, minds, and very beings to God? Is it easier to know about God than to come to know Him intimately? I think so, because we can remain detached. If we truly know God, we cannot remain detached for He lives in us.

Consider this… As you read the Bible, I urge you to look for buzzwords that are linked to praise – words like bless, thanksgiving, thankful, thank, sacrifice, look to, lift hands, sing, dance, leap, joyful noise, joy, worship, rejoice, worthy, awesome, etc. They’re everywhere!

You see, God doesn’t need our praise but we need to praise Him. Through praise we affirm over and over again God’s greatness and how thankful we are to have Him in our lives. (Revelation 4:8-11)

One final thought…

Have you prayed about your concerns as much as you’ve talked about them? We would worry less if we praised God more.