A Sacrifice of Praise

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

A SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

Heb 13:15-16

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

NIV

We bring the sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord, we bring the sacrifices of praise unto the Lord, and we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy. Let us never stop confessing the name of Jesus. Let his name always be on our lips. If we did that, if we were always saying, even if just to ourselves, the name of Jesus, praising his name, we would not be thinking, saying, or doing some of those things that are not pleasing to God. When we think about ourselves, thinking our feelings have been hurt, we are not offering a sacrifice of praise. When we gossip, criticize, be judgmental, envious, jealous, unforgiving, or many other types of attitudes or behaviors, we are not offering a sacrifice of praise. But if we were continually offering that sacrifice of praise, all those thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors would halt. If our lips were confessing Jesus, we would not have any reason for those thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors. We want to bear good fruit, and the name of Jesus is the best fruit in the world and the world to come. With the name of Jesus always on our lips, praising his name, it would be natural for us to do good and to share with others, and thus we would be pleasing God. The author makes the point that doing good and sharing with others is also a sacrifice that pleases God. It might be because, for the most part, we are always thinking more about ourselves than we think about doing good and sharing with others. If that is true, then it would be a sacrifice to think about others before ourselves and do them good, rather than doing good for ourselves. Of course, we must take care of ourselves as well, and perhaps the best way to do that is to offer the sacrifices of praise to the name of Jesus and he will see to it that we have all we need, and more. If our lives are all about  Jesus all the rest will fall right into place. It will be our nature to do good and to share with others. This might be in the material sense, or it could be in the spiritual sense. We would share resources, we could share time, we could share Jesus, all require a giving of ourselves, which comes from confessing the name of Jesus and offering a sacrifice of praises.