Sacrificial Praise

It hadn’t been something I’d just thought of in an instant.  In fact it was something that had been percolating in my brain for some time.  This thought of praise as a sacrifice.

The writer of Hebrews would tell us, “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name.”

And sometimes it feels like that, doesn’t it?
Like praise is a sacrifice.

Sacrifice can be defined as this, “to surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else; to relinquish, forgo, or renounce.”

Praise often feels like sacrifice.

And praise doesn’t always mean singing worship songs.
We praise Him in other ways too.
We praise Him when we share the Gospel message to those who don’t know Him for themselves.
We praise Him when we choose to forgive the one who speaks ill of us or blames us for something for which we aren’t guilty of.
We praise Him when the path of duty is painful, and when the method of His workings are mysterious and unknown.

And I would send it in a text to a friend early on a Monday morning.  The one who’s also wrestled with this sense of discouragement in the midst of the trial.

And I would say to her this: “just as our trials aren’t permanent, neither are our opportunities to give Him sacrifices permanent… like praise in pain, and forgiveness in faultfinding.  Just like the tribulation we face is fleeting, so are our opportunities to give sacrificially that which we can only give this side of heaven.”
Because there is no pain there.  There is no suffering there.  There are no trials there.  And so in heaven there will be no availability to do this. 

We only have HERE and NOW to offer something of worth and value to Him that only sacrifice can provide.

Today…we get to choose.

I will be like the Psalmist who said, “I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.” 

And my life will become a living praise.

I have only here and now to make it a sacrifice.  One He lovingly and graciously accepts.