Is your praise truthful?

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. (Psalm 103:1-2)

Another thing to consider as we march through our new year - gratitude. Is the state of our heart one of gratitude the majority of the time, or is it consumed more by envy that leads to a greater state of discontent? Some of the hardest times we can go through involve times of 'comparison' - when we compare what we have, where we are at, what we are doing, or who we have 'become' in light of someone else's accomplishments. Perhaps this is why God warns us against comparing ourselves with others (Galatians 6:4-6). Instead, we are to turn our eyes instead toward him and the things he has for each of us. In this alone will we find the greatest contentment. Our whole heart has to buy into this idea of gratefulness, though. We cannot be 'kinda' grateful 'most of the time' and find true contentment. Stop for a moment to consider we may not always be willing to sit and praise God for the 'stuff' of daily life. The very last time you truthfully sat alone with God and thanked him for your present circumstances, the things he is doing in your life right now, and what he has already accomplished for you this year may actually have been done a little 'begrudgingly' since the things happening haven't really 'measured up' to all that you hoped for. The good news is that God isn't going to let 'discontent' hang around a long time in our lives. He will prompt us toward gratefulness because he knows how damaging discontent can actually be.

Praise is actually only 'truthful' when it is done from a grateful heart. We can praise the cook, but if we do it just because they prepared a meal we really didn't 'fully enjoy', it isn't really truthful praise. Come away with a sated belly, having enjoyed every morsel served, and the praise we give might just be a little more 'genuine'. God doesn't look for us to be less than truthful with him. There have been times when I have been truthfully ungrateful for an element of what was happening in my life, but I have been honest in my praise. He knows I was struggling with the circumstances, but the faith and trust I placed in him helping me do my best, getting the most from the moment, and then seeing where it led me down the road didn't mean I wasn't grateful in my praise. It meant I trusted him enough to be honest, knowing what I didn't see right then was totally in his hands. Praise is sometimes best expressed in trust - being grateful might just look a little bit like admitting things aren't perfect, but you know he has good in mind for your life, so you will trust him for the outcome. Just sayin!