Praise the Lord

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Scripture: 1 Peter 1:8-9 (ESV)

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Devotion

            In this devotion we are going to praise the Lord for his salvation. We will be solely concerned about lifting the name of the Lord up because of the wonderful things he did, is doing, and will do for us his children. It is too easy, in this world, to be distracted from the love and adoration of our Lord. We could fill pages and pages of things that the world has and does that distract us from the worship of God. Let us not fall prey to the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil that would distract us now.

            The scripture above is full of praises for our Lord. Sometimes we fail to praise the Lord appropriately because he is not visible to us. Like the Hebrews at the Red Sea, we see only the threats of our enemies. God wants to pull our gaze toward heaven and our God who inhabits it. Let us, therefore, join in lifting our voices in praise to our God. We will praise God for all his mercies to us. As it says in the scriptures “his mercies are new every morning” we can always bless God’s holy name because of the way he provides for us. Let us always raise our songs of praise to God because he loves us, and we are thus able to love him in return.

            As we enter into this season of waiting called advent let us rejoice with those for whom the birth of the baby in Mary’s arms in Bethlehem on that first Christmas night meant that the unseen God had become flesh and bones. Jesus was a child and yet he was God in human flesh. He could be seen and worshiped by those fortunate enough to see him in the flesh. Although we cannot see Jesus now, we rejoice because we believe that the babe lying in the manger was truly God come in human form. We seek to praise him this day because God so loved the world that he might give us the ultimate gift. He gave us the gift of his very own son. We worship him today with the wise men of old. We offer God the gift of our lives as a living sacrifice. We offer Jesus a sacrifice of our praise in this holy season of advent.

            We praise God for the salvation provided by God’s gift to us in his son Jesus. Salvation is a gift that we do not deserve. In our flesh we are weak and sinful, but God has given us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross a pathway to eternal life. Praise the Lord for his wonderful gift of grace and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

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