Praise to God from unbelievers
“Praise be to the LORD your God!” (1 Kings 10:9a)
Maybe you’ve seen posts or comments by people who have chosen one word which is their focus or goal for the new year. The words are positive or inspiring and are meant to set a forward thinking tone. If you were to choose such a word, what might it be?
As you look at our verse for this week, it is rather easy to pick out what the one word might be to focus on for 2019 – praise. The interesting thing is who said the words of our verse for this week – a heathen foreign leader, the Queen of Sheba – during her visit with King Solomon.
That whole context gives us something very interesting to ponder and consider. Do you live your life and let your faith show in such a way that unbelievers would speak positively and give praise to God? That is exactly what Peter urges us to do in his first epistle “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:12).
How often aren’t our words and actions sadly quite the opposite? We complain, moan and act like we have the worst lot in in life when we have every reason to do exactly what the Queen of Sheba exclaimed. Our gracious God deserves our endless praise for our forgiveness, salvation and hope of heaven which he daily holds out and offers to us. Those gifts of God’s grace would be more than enough reasons for us to give him praise. On top of those spiritual and eternal blessings, In addition, God gives us rich physical blessings which we so often complain about or don’t receive with thanksgiving.
With our verse for this week I am challenging each one of you to “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” As we carry out “the care of the soul as the soul of care,” we have many opportunities to live our lives in such a way that others praise God rather than us. To that end, Jesus gives us great encouragement and guidance “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).
“Praise” and “light” are two great words and goals for us to strive for in 2019. Guided and directed by God’s grace may they be evident in our lives throughout 2019!