Don’t worry about what others think about how you praise God
“Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)
Giving God the praise should be the number one thing on every believer’s list. He is the reason why you wake up in the morning and have a place to lay your head at night. He is also the one who showers your life with blessing after blessing. The things that God does for you should be celebrated. And we should all show our thanks to him every chance that we get. Some of us praise God publicly. We have no problem saying a little prayer in the car before a job interview while others walk by watching us. And some of us have absolutely no problem letting out a “Hallelujah” in front of crowd when we get some great news. On the other hand, some people are very private in how they show their thanks to God. So private up to the point where they don’t even pray out loud when they are in a room by themselves. Does this mean that one person is closer to God than the other?
There is no set way to give God the praise. How you choose to praise God is totally up to you. If you feel the need to jump up and down, clap your hands and cry, that’s your personal choice. If you sit on a church pew and don’t utter a single “Praise The Lord” or “Thank You Father”, that doesn’t mean that you are not thankful for all God has done in your life.
As human beings, we are all guilty of being judgmental at times. But when it comes to how sincere someone is in their praising of the Lord, the criticism should be kept to a minimum. Bottom line is, you don’t know what kind of relationship that person has with God. And you don’t know what God has brought them through so you can’t pass judgment on how they praise Him. We may not have the same views as someone else when it comes to praising God. But the least we should all do is respect each other’s prayer practices. As long as you give God the glory in some way, that is really all that matters.
