"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
Hebrews 13:15-16
I kind of like the fact that Paul calls these sacrifices here. The sacrifice of praise to God makes me think of pride, and how in order to praise God, we need to let go of the idea that we ourselves are supreme. Seems funny to say that, but I think we're all there sometimes... thinking that we know what is best for ourselves, that we can make something work that is totally unworkable, that God will understand or accommodate us. :) The truth is, God is supreme, and to learn to be like him, and to have what he has, we have to learn to let go of that pride, and accept instruction from God, who is the only one who knows how to accomplish that. We have be humble, and learn to understand and accommodate him. Which is sometimes a sacrifice... of our own desire to be the coolest. :)
And the second verse is awesome too... kind of parallel to the great commandments to love God and love other people, we need to praise God, and to do good and communicate with other people. I know that probably sounds like a silly sacrifice too, but we definitely have problems with this as well. We get so wrapped up in ourselves and what we want that we often forget about other people... that we need to serve them and help them, and communicate with them. We forget sometimes that other people can't read our minds, and know our intentions and emotions. We have to translate what is in our head into a message of some sort so that they can participate in our thought processes and build relationships with us. A Zion community can't exist without talking to each other... and does love really count if you only feel it and don't communicate it in some way? Today, let's make the sacrifices necessary, and tell God and other people how much we appreciate them. Let's praise, communicate, and do some good. :)
But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
Hebrews 13:15-16
I kind of like the fact that Paul calls these sacrifices here. The sacrifice of praise to God makes me think of pride, and how in order to praise God, we need to let go of the idea that we ourselves are supreme. Seems funny to say that, but I think we're all there sometimes... thinking that we know what is best for ourselves, that we can make something work that is totally unworkable, that God will understand or accommodate us. :) The truth is, God is supreme, and to learn to be like him, and to have what he has, we have to learn to let go of that pride, and accept instruction from God, who is the only one who knows how to accomplish that. We have be humble, and learn to understand and accommodate him. Which is sometimes a sacrifice... of our own desire to be the coolest. :)
And the second verse is awesome too... kind of parallel to the great commandments to love God and love other people, we need to praise God, and to do good and communicate with other people. I know that probably sounds like a silly sacrifice too, but we definitely have problems with this as well. We get so wrapped up in ourselves and what we want that we often forget about other people... that we need to serve them and help them, and communicate with them. We forget sometimes that other people can't read our minds, and know our intentions and emotions. We have to translate what is in our head into a message of some sort so that they can participate in our thought processes and build relationships with us. A Zion community can't exist without talking to each other... and does love really count if you only feel it and don't communicate it in some way? Today, let's make the sacrifices necessary, and tell God and other people how much we appreciate them. Let's praise, communicate, and do some good. :)
Wow this really helped... I love your inspired babbling
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it. :)
ReplyDeleteNice interpretation
ReplyDeleteThanks. :)
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