There are sacrifices in the New Covenant. Today we will look at worship. Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
A sacrifice is something given that takes effort. We often use it as a verb. For example, “If you want a new car, you’ll have to sacrifice …” It’s doing without something for a particular purpose.
Sometimes it’s not natural to worship. We may be sad or going through a difficult time. It’s then that praise becomes a sacrifice. We thank Him in and for the difficulty.
It takes faith to offer a sacrifice of praise. By giving thanks we are admitting that God knows what He is doing and He will work it out for the best (Romans 8:28). There are plenty of things that don’t appear advantageous. Yet, He is God and He is powerful enough to work that out.
Praising Him in difficulties pleases Him. Parents see this often. We will often tell our kids to trust us, it will work out. We may want something different in our lives. Or there may be an obstruction. It’s ok to work on it’s removal. But we praise Him in the process. He is pleased with our trust. Jesus was pleased by the centurion’s faith in Matthew 8. He marveled.
This goes against our culture. It believes in optimism, but that’s different than being thankful in difficulties. As was mentioned, it’s ok to work at changing our situation. Praising Him doesn’t mean we resolve to live with it. We can attempt a change. Culture interprets our gratitude for acceptance and weakness. Culture doesn’t believe in God, so it doesn’t understand the gratitude.
Lord, thank You that You are worthy of worship. Help us to offer praise at all times. Even at times when it’s not natural. So much so that it’s a sacrifice.