Praise from God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

PRAISE FROM GOD

John 5:41-44

41 "I do not accept praise from men, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

NIV

It has never ceased to amaze me how believers will give applause to each other for some sort of performance, even when that performance is billed as a ministry. Why do we applaud someone who sings, but not someone who preaches? Are we actually giving praise to the singer, or are we praising God? If we are praising God with our applause, then why not when the pastor is finished with his sermon? It may be appropriate to applaud a performer for whom we have paid to hear, but certainly we should not be giving each other praise for ministry, although some come up after a sermon to praise the pastor saying, “ That was good” or “You’re a good preacher” or some other attempt at giving affirmation. It seems what Jesus is saying is pretty clear about accepting praise from other people. Do we look for praise from other people? Do we want other people to think we are “Good Christians?” Do we serve in the church so others will think we are doing good deeds? What is the reason we do anything? Jesus has some harsh words for his listeners here when he tells them they do not have the love of God in their hearts. These were people who were very religious, followed all the laws, perhaps even made up some of their own, at least from their interpretation of the law, but they did not have the love of God in their hearts, instead they were praising each other for being so religious. It is one thing to claim to be a believer in Christ, attempt to live a holy life, doing all the right things, and checking off the list of things not to do, but it is entirely a different life if we have the love of God in our hearts. It is far better to receive praise from God than from men, yet some believers seem to live for the praise of men. If we have the Love of God in our hearts then we certainly will do many good deeds, deeds we would consider a ministry that we have been called by God to do, and we certainly would not anyone to praise us for doing what we do. If we are praised in any many we should simply redirect that praise to God, for all we are, all we say and all we do is because of God working through us. If God is not working through us then all we have is humanity at its finest and men praising men, such as in the Nobel prizes, Oscars, Emmy’s or some other form of human praise. In the church we should especially not what any praise from men or recognition of ministry. It is painful to see people lifted up in church for doing something special, brought before the congregation and given praise. It just seems this is not what having the love of God in our hearts is all about, but rather about having the praise of men. It is quite appropriate for a person to say, “It is not me, I can do nothing without the power of God working in me” or “Any ability I have is all because of God”. Many do say that and that is a reflection of the love of God in their hearts. We should always remember that God’s grace is most cases mean his divine influence on our hearts and how that is reflected in our hearts. That is having the love of God in our hearts and having God praise us, as he did David, “This is a man after my own heart”. Let us seek only the praise from God.