The Sacrifice of Praise

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
(Hebrews 13:15)

Why would God consider praise to be a sacrifice? The Greek word for 'sacrifice' is thusia (thu-sha). It comes from the root word thuo (thu-oh) meaning "to kill or slaughter for a purpose."

How could something so seemingly violent have anything to do with such a beautiful expression as praise?

OK. Think about it. To truly offer up praise to God, we must die to self - we must "kill" our pride, our worries and fears. We must destroy our laziness! OUCH! (that one hurt me, too). Are we so apathetic about the things of God that we just assume He knows we are thankful; we just assume He knows we recognize Who He is?

May it never be! To praise Him requires action.

To offer a sacrifice of praise is to realize that even when your world is falling apart and you don't think you have anything to be thankful for, you realize that you can still praise God for Who He is. That, my friend, is a sacrifice and it is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord our God.

Offer up to Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving! Offer up to Him a sacrifice of praise!

He is worthy of our praise!

Father God, we DO praise you! You, O Lord, are our Redeemer, our Comforter. You are El Shaddai - the all-sufficient One! Thank you, Lord. I am so thankful that You promise to inhabit the praises of Your people. Come, Lord. Come and dwell in me, in the sanctuary of my praise for You. I long for Your Presence.