Friday, September 25, 2009

Boast about joyfully

Last weekend was extra special as I spent time with extended family. I had an especially nice visit with my young nephew. Only a fool could miss the fact that this boy is in love. He couldn’t stop talking about his sweetheart, and as he spoke of her, his smile covered his face and his eyes sparkled with joy.

That’s what we do when we’re in love; we think about that person all the time, and his or her name is always on our lips.

In my last column, “Praise Forevermore,” I defined praise as “to boast about joyfully.” It’s what we do naturally when we’re in love. It’s what we do naturally when we love God. We talk about Him. We “boast about” Him joyfully. We don’t have to “preach” at people. If God is a part of our everyday lives, His name will come up as easily in conversation as anyone or anything else we love. (“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”! [Mat. 12:34b]) Psalm 34:1–3 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.”

Here was someone head over heels in love, don’t you think? His praise for the Lord was “continually” in his mouth. He knew speaking forth God’s praise would bless others, and he wanted others to join him in exalting God’s name.

As always, we can learn from God’s Word. The point is not that we must talk about God all the time to prove we love Him but that if we work on developing our love relationship with Him, talking (boasting joyfully) about Him will be a natural outgrowth of that experience.

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