Love Notes from Abby: The Sacrifice of Praise

Transcript: The Sacrifice of Praise

Ever had a fantastic idea, jump in with both feet and then realize you've bitten off a little more than you can chew?

Fact is, I love doing love notes and I appreciate the overwhelming kind responses from you, my friends. Because you're my friends, I have to keep it real with you. I’m struggling to keep up with daily love notes..

I take the handling of scripture seriously. I won't just throw something together without a great deal of prayer, research and study. It's a responsibility I do not take lightly.

And the truth is is that the fall is a hard season.

I've learned over the years that I don't have the bandwidth that I wished that I had.

That said, I'm committing to one love note a week with the occasional extra when I'm doing better. I'd much rather have quality over quantity.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let's jump into today.

Let's talk about the sacrifice of praise.

Praising during the seasons when it's not necessarily easy to praise.

The seasons that are hard, the seasons when our circumstances don't align with what we want. The seasons when we don't feel like praising.

Let's look at Hebrews 13:15

“Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.”

— Hebrews 13:15

The two words that stand out to me are sacrifice and praise.

So sacrifice is defined as an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.

And praise is defined as the expression of respect and gratitude as an act of worship.

When I hear this verse and I think about the definitions, what immediately comes to mind is Corrie Ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place.

By now, you know that I have a little love affair with that book, but the lessons, the lessons that you can learn in that book are just incredible.

As soon as I read Hebrews 13:15 I immediately thought of Corrie's sister.

Imagine they are in a concentration camp, and they are crowded in like sardines and because of the conditions they are filthy, they are dirty and they have fleas. I can't even imagine.

I cannot even fathom the horror of everything that they're going through and then you think about flea bites and flea infestation.

You think about the constant itching and the biting and just the nastiness of it. But because of the fleas, the German soldiers did not go into the room because it was just so disgusting and they did not want the fleas.

And so Corrie's sister, when everyone was feeling so discouraged and so distraught, she said, I will thank God for the fleas because it keeps the guards out of here.

You want to talk about a sacrifice of praise. That's about as good as it gets, and I think it embodies what God wants from us.

He doesn't want us to just love Him and praise Him and honor Him and think He is worthy when our life is going great. He wants us to honor and praise Him and thank Him in the midst of the seasons we are covered in fleas.

Though our circumstances may be horrible that He is still the same good and faithful and just God.

At times the back to school season can feel like I'm covered in fleas.

I will thank God though that He is faithful and that He is right there in the midst with me and that His promises are true and that He is who He says He is.

And that this world is temporary and these circumstances are temporary and eternity is great.

So as we go on our day today and and we find ourselves covered with the fleas, I pray that God will just show you and reveal to you His goodness in the midst of it all and that we in return, we'll respond with the sacrifice of praise.

Okay, sweet friends. Thank you again for understanding and for joining me for love notes.

Now go take on your day.