When we truly understand the gospel of Jesus the Christ, the worship and praise of the One who died on the cross for our sakes and yet now lives forever as Lord of lords will be the dominant commitment and engagement of our lives. C.S. Lewis offers insightful thoughts on the nature of praise. Allow me to share some of them with you.
We must understand that true praise is not mindless obedience to the demands of an insecure God who wants to be told how awesome he is. It is not even merely a matter of God having the “right” to be praised. C.S. Lewis compares it to the admiration of worthy object: “admiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate, response to it … and that if we do not admire we shall be stupid, insensible, and great losers, we shall have missed something.” In other words, praise is the only appropriate and logical response of one who truly grasps the nature of the God whom Jesus has revealed. As Paul declares: “I APPEAL to you therefore … in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies … as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship” (Romans 12.1 AMP, emphasis added).
“The most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it.” Praise comes naturally to us when we value and enjoy something—whether a movie, a song, a person. Not only that, “just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.”
Finally, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” If we know Christ—personally, intimately, experientially—praise is our joy!
–Keith Y. Jainga