Attitude Check? Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

As an assistant youth pastor, one of my favorite parts (if not the favorite part) of my job is leading worship. We have a youth worship service every Sunday morning, do a short worship set before Wednesday night small groups, and tend to salt and pepper all of our events with worship whenever possible.

As much as I love leading people in worship, it can be physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding; and sometimes, I just don't feel up to it. But, over the years, I've found that I can respond to my lack of feeling in one of two ways. I can say, to myself, either:

A. "I don't feel like leading worship, but I'll push on and do my best."

or

B. "I don't feel like leading worship, so I can have even more confidence that God is the one leading worship."

It is incredibly humbling to see the vast difference that my team and I experience when I choose B instead of A.

Have you let God work through you this week, or have you tried to do it on your own?

Joy: An Inspiration

Philippians 1:3-6

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.


Well, this is the final, most important, most succinct aspect in our month-long discussion of joy (Greek: chara).

This aspect of joy picks up where last week's left off, continuing the idea that joy should not just be a personal event. However, this passage points out the most radical, yet least complicated aspect of joy yet.

What we see in this passage is pretty much Paul's standard greeting; he used similar greetings in most of his letters. In this greeting, Paul indicates that he is experiencing joy; not joy just for joy's sake, but joy that has stemmed from the Philippians and their ministry.

There is one point that you must take away from this discussion: that you, I, and all Christians are called to live our lives in such a way that we inspire joy in other people.

Does that idea rock your world like it does mine?