rapid succession -- entry #3

ok, this was posted on my site, but i wanted to reference it here as well, for future use. forgive the duplication...

let everything that has breath praise the Lord! psalm 150:6 -- it's not a suggestion or an invitation, it's a command! the five most common old testament words for praise give us an idea of what God intends:

hallal - to celebrate, to boast
yadah - to worship with raised hands, extended arms
barak - to declare God as the origin of power, success, or victory
shabach - to shout or commend loudly!
gil - to circle in joy, to dance in circles

it's not about the church, the band, the pastor, me or you; it's not about who's watching us, or who's sitting next to us; it's not about us, it's all about Him! it is our passion at peachtree that we move past the paradigm of a dignified religion, and passionately praise our great God with all we possess, all our resources, our time, our energy!

did you know that we're the only creatures on earth that can choose whether we praise God? the rest of creation - the plants of every field, the trees of every forest, the waves of every ocean, animals of every kind - they all do exactly what they were created to do, which is give honor and glory to God! when a dog barks, when an ocean wave crashes, when a flower blooms, they do so in direct obedience to God's grand design! but God gave us a choice! you've probably heard the phrase, "If you love something, set it free. If it returns, it's yours forever." God's glory deserves all praise. He's given us a choice, because love given freely in return means so much more than love given when there's no alternative.

let us worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe... hebrews 12:28. the word value describes how much worth we place on an object. a postage stamp goes for $.37. a big mac, about $2.09. you can get a base model bmw for less than $40,000. a price is driven by how much an object is worth, or how much value the buyer places on it. the more a person values the object of worth, the more he is willing to give for it. that's what worship is - attributing worth. when we attribute to God His appropriate value, the value He deserves, we then lay down everything before Him, because He alone is worthy of everything!

May we not waste our worship on anything less
than He who alone is worthy!