Skip to main content

Growing in Grace by Praising God, by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous


Growing in Grace by Praising God
By Pastor Charlie

The Apostle Peter drew his second letter to a close with these wise and pastoral words: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The word “grow” is an exhortation and a command, and it implies that if we’re to progress in Christ we must play an active role, by the grace of Christ, in building habits that nurture our progress. Therefore, I am offering a series of devotionals this summer on eight essential habits that help us to grow in grace. For today, let’s consider the place of praise in the Christian life.
Paul writes in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” The three clauses in this verse are often quoted in isolation from one another, but they are in fact designed to be kept together. As Jesus enriches our lives with his Word, by his Spirit, we cannot help but overflow with praise for God through teaching, singing, and thanksgiving.
As Jesus teaches us his will and ways, we naturally long to share what we’ve learned with others. As he reveals to us more of his beauty and excellence, we naturally long to say and sing our praise, sometimes in the privacy of our hearts and sometimes at the top of our lungs. As he applies his will and ways to our lives, we naturally overflow with specific thanksgiving for who he is and what he’s done. As the Word of Christ becomes our treasure, the expression of praise becomes our pleasure. Indeed, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, the verbalization of joy completes our joy (Reflections on the Psalms).
Now, having said that, I must add that there is discipline to praise. That is to say, we must discipline ourselves to treasure the words of Christ and receive from the Spirit of Christ day by day. We must sometimes press ourselves to overflow with praise through teaching, singing, and thanksgiving. We must sometimes force ourselves to fix our eyes on him who is the prize of life that we may exalt him in one another’s eyes. Praise is the natural overflow of a heart enamored of Jesus and rich with the Word of Jesus. And praise requires effort, discipline, and perseverance.
So my exhortation to you today is this: spend some time with Jesus and search your heart in the atmosphere of his grace. How are you doing with regard to his Word—is it dwelling in you richly or poorly? Are you overflowing with praise through teaching, singing, and thanksgiving? How can you grow in discipline with regard to these things?
May Jesus grant us the passion and power to grow in the grace and knowledge of him, and to overflow with the praise of him all the days of our lives. Lord, hear our prayer!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Billy Graham, Holiness, and Leadership

By
A few years ago, I was listening to a radio program on which Marshall Shelley was being interviewed about his new book, The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham (Zondervan, 2005). They were giving away a few copies of the book to those who called in, and something inside me felt compelled to call. But I didn’t have a good question to ask, so I prayed to the Lord and said, “If you want me to have a copy of this book, please give me a good question to ask and I’ll call.” I’m not sure if the Lord gave me this question or if it just popped into my head, but one way or the other, I thought to ask about the connection in Billy’s life between his private pursuit of holiness and integrity, and his public effectiveness and longevity. So, I made the call and was given the last copy of the book they had to give. A couple of years earlier, I had breakfast with some friends and the subject of Billy Graham’s life and ministry came up. We talked mostly about his commitment to integrity in the area...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catechisms: Building a Heritage of Sound Faith - By Pastor Kevin Feder

By
This is an article I (Pastor Kevin) wrote in 2005 and updated in 2017. It is featured in a new resource available through Children’s Desiring God called Discipleship through Doctrinal Teaching and Catechism by Sally Michael.  It is our desire to encourage parents to use a children’s catechism as a tool in building and strengthening faith in children. A simple definition of a catechism is “organized teaching.” Catechisms are not the only things that can or should be used to instruct the next generation, yet they have useful purposes. Listed here are ten specific benefits a catechism can uniquely offer. Hopefully these ten points will help parents understand how a catechism can be effectively used in their families. 1.  A catechism is a very clear and complete gospel message. A catechism is, among other things, a very clear and concise gospel message to children. Everything a child needs to know for salvation is embodied within a catechism. The gospel is truly ama...
Post a Comment
Read more