Sacrifices of Praise

When reading from the book of Hebrews, I was struck with the phrase “the sacrifice of praise.”  Here is what the writer of Hebrews says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.  And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).

Notice several things from this text about the “sacrifice of praise.”

 1)      The Channel through which this activity is to be done is “Through Jesus.”

2)      The Frequency in which we should be involved in this activity is “Continually.”

3)      The Focus of our praise should be directed “To God.”

4)      The Mechanism through which the praise is to be uttered is “The fruit of lips.”

5)      The Content of the praise should be to “Confess His name.”

6)      The Result or what happens when we praise God is that “God is pleased.”

It is easy to utter words that do not have meaning because they are not expressions of our heart.  That is kind of like singing a song from memory – we know the tune, but we merely voice words which have little or no meaning.  Jesus made an interesting comment about some people who were simply mouthing words.  He said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Their words were hollow because those words did not come from the heart.  When our lives have been changed by the renewing power of God’s Spirit within us, the fruit of our lips will be that which flows from our heart as a sacrifice of praise to God for who He is and what He has done for us. 

Let me ask you: Has your heart been changed by God?  Are you offering God the sacrifice of praise?  Do you talk about the mighty power of God and praise Him throughout the day?  Have you thanked God today for the air that you breathe?  Have you expressed your appreciation to Him for sending Jesus to die on the cross so your sins could be washed away?  Have you thanked Him for your family?  I encourage you, right now, to express your thanks and praise to God.  Let’s let the fruit of our lips be the expression of our hearts to God as we bring to Him the sacrifice of praise.