1. the act of expressing approval or admiration; commendation; laudation.
2. the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God.
I finally made it to the ISI (International Students Inc.) meeting at the meeting place tonight. I’ve been meaning to go for a while but kept making excuses about having better things to do.
Foolish really.
Depriving myself each time of a unique blessing.
A ministry to reach the world with Christ through International Students right here in Denver.
The topic of tonight’s discussion was The Souls Need for Praise.
From one of the opening statements that “praise completes our enjoyment” of the object we praise to another, that “our enjoyment is only as good/lasting as the things we give our praise to” the night was full of thought provoking statements.
During discussion time the question that most captured my attention was:
“Does praise come from our experience?”
followed by
“Are we able to praise something that we haven’t experienced?”
This is the background as to why the questions above really struck me tonight.
In one of his current graduate classes through BBC my friend Kevin is studying the difference between the Old Testament Christian experience and modern day Christianity. Where the Israelites literally experienced God (they saw the Red Sea part in front of them and consume the Egyptians behind them, etc.) we, in present Christianity have head knowledge (we read about these acts of power) before we have the experience to reinforce that knowledge. Chew on that one for a while.
Help me out here:
Does experience only come through the senses?
Do you have to taste a food before you can appreciate it?
Do you have to see the ocean before you can appreciate its beauty?
What if someone describes the food to you? What if they explain all the facets of the ocean? Can you still experience praise? Without firsthand experience…
Help me think through this.
No comments:
Post a Comment