Praise, Glorify, Worship
We’ve heard the words praise, glory, and worship so many times in our lives, we often take them for granted as kind of interchangeable mush.
But they’re not.
PRAISE
The calls to "praise the Lord" throughout the Bible are too numerous to mention. A few:
Psalm 89:5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
Psalm 148:2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! All inhabitants of the earth are instructed to praise the Lord. We can praise Him with singing, with shouting, with the dance, and with musical instruments.
1 Chronicles 13:8 And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.
Psalm 150:4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Psalm 9:11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!
Isaiah 12:5 Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
Romans 15:11 Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.”
Q: What is Praise?
A: Praise is an expression of approval or admiration although we often tend to think of praise as something others need to build them up; and though there is truth to that, the purest form of praise is when it is an extension of true feelings inside of us.
Note that when we praise a child, we want to acknowledge some accomplishment and, of course, encourage them to continue. The closer the child is to you, the more emotion is in our praise. And if you see your own child/loved one accomplish something fantastic, then we are almost falling all over ourselves to sing their praises to whomever will listen.
It’s not just about people. For example, even if we see some incredible waterfalls in the tropics, or a sunset on the beach, or an amazing full moon, we don’t just say to ourselves, “Meh.” We want to tell whoever is with us, "Would you look at that? Did you see that? Unbelievable!"
These examples indicate there are two components to true praise:
1) it involves feelings of love or closeness inside of us, and
2) there is a great need to verbalize it, announce it, even proclaim it.
Q: By definition, ‘praise’ requires verbalizing. Why?
A: Remember our breakdown of an apology? Thinking you are sorry is the critical first step; however, if you don’t verbalize it, then ‘being sorry’ never takes on reality. Praise works the same way. We first recognize the thing in our minds, but then when we speak it, we make it real!
Humans have a unique spiritual ability to recognize wonder and beauty.
When you think about it, materially-speaking there isn’t much to get excited about if all little Sally does is kick the ball into a net. The full moon is just a big rock with light reflecting on it. Waterfalls are, well, wet. Yet, our spiritual nature – our connection to God – enables us to appreciate the grandeur of things, whether it is someone’s accomplishments or simply the stunning beauty of nature.
One of the ways we know this is a spiritual gift is because praise is an expression of appreciation for something that isn’t about us. It is one of the many expressions of love.
Perhaps now we can recognize that the purpose of our praise is not simply the object or the act, but our relationship of joy with those whom we are doing the sharing.
Q: Does God need our praise?
A: When we ask, “Does God need praise?” we think we are asking why God would need “building up,” which is the weakest form of praise. But even the purest, joyful praise is not something God needs. God needs nothing, He’s perfect. However, although the sharing of joy fills a need in humans, who said the sharing of joy must fill a need for God in order for Him to partake in it? How could we think that Love itself could not enjoy the sharing of that very love that He is?
GLORIFY
Q: What is Glorify?
First, glory is like praise, perhaps a step up: great praise, honor, renown, splendor, magnificence, and majesty. These are apt descriptions of God’s major attributes: love, truth, justice, and mercy – which all humans seek.
The verb “glorify” means to magnify or add to the glory of someone else.
Q: How does one glorify another?
A: By emulating their teachings or their excellence.
Example: Jesus’ life of love and forgiveness to the very end glorified the Father.
Similarly, we glorify Christ when we try to emulate Him. We are, in effect, illuminating or magnifying his goodness by doing those good things! .
Q: In the Gloria, what does it mean when we say, “We glorify you,” and “We give you thanks for your great glory!”?
A: It means we hold God in such high esteem that we try to emulate his love and kindness in our own lives. This is also what is meant by establishing God’s Kingdom on earth.
"For the people of God, every little choice we make ought to show the incomparable glory of the Lord our God." (Cor 10:31)
Q: What is Worship?
First, it is important to understand what worship is.
Many equate worship with singing music in church. This is one aspect of worship, but worship is in no way limited to song. It is a full life response to the object of our worship. When we truly worship something, it governs the way we live.
One way to look at worship is to think of it as "worth-ship." When we worship something, we declare that it is worthy of the highest value we can place on it.
It appears that human beings are worshippers by nature. Sometimes our worship is focused on that which is truly worthy of our total reverence, such as God. Other times it is misdirected, as we may place our highest worth on our bank accounts, making fashion statements, or worshiping entertainers, politicians (God help us), or some other person. As Jesus said, we can only serve one master: either God or mammon (this world). (Mt 6:24)
Finally, we need to look at what it means to worship “in spirit and in truth,” because it is essential to do both of these things.
To worship in spirit is to be in communion with God. When we pray, when we talk to God, when we seek His forgiveness and advice, we are in communion with Him. We should then take what we learn from this relationship and implement it into our lives. This is how we change, improve, love more, help more, and grow wiser. This is worshipping in truth. Then we keep taking it back to God, then back to our lives, then back to God again, and when we do this, we keep upping our game and honing our spiritual skills.
When we go to Church to worship, we are attending a banquet to celebrate all of this!
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