Passion for Praise

Shout to the Lord, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!

Psalm 98:4 (NLT)

My daughter was absolutely in love with music. She still likes it, but when she was little, she was enraptured (totally focused) on it. She was always listening to music. But, beyond that, she was always singing. Most of the time, she would just sing along to songs on the radio. Then there were the other times when there would be no music playing, but she’d still be singing. There were several instances I remember hearing her singing from across the house. I’d get closer to her room to discover that she wasn’t singing any song I was familiar with. In fact, she wasn’t singing a song that anyone would know. She was making it up as she went. Whether she was singing with, or to, her Barbie dolls, or her Flynn Rider figure, I’m not sure. But, she was singing, and singing with passion, energy, and volume. I must say, she actually sounded quite good! (Of course, I’m her dad, so…)

As she has gotten older, that type of thing has begun to fade. She still sings along with the radio, though in lower volume. But, I haven’t heard her sing impromptu songs in quite a while. I have to admit, it kind of bums me out. As she is getting older, or more mature, her zest for her singing isn’t what it quite once was.

As we age in our faith, sometimes this happens to us, as well. We tend to lose our passion, our energy, and volume, in living out our faith. As a kid, no problem! We sang, did the hand motions, clapped, smiled, laughed, all in worshiping. Yet, for many of us, as we mature, that energy fades. For some, maybe it’s because they feel that a mature person shouldn’t be doing the hand motions to songs. For others, perhaps it is because they are afraid of what others will think. Still, others, are just going through the motions and praise doesn’t really mean anything. Whatever the cause, our passion for praise fades.

Standing in contrast to this is King David’s verse today, “Shout to the Lord, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!” In other words, we need to recapture that passion and energy from our youth. Break out in impromptu praise. Recapture the joy and then let it radiate out. Have fun in worshiping Jesus. Smile, sing, shout as the Spirit moves you. Don’t suppress it. Let it out! Let the whole earth know that Jesus is Lord!

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