2/20/24 – word count 452 – reading time – 2 minutes

As we move further into the Old Testament we learn that the purpose of
mankind is expanded to include declaring God’s praise – Isaiah 43:7 – “Everyone
who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him,
yes, I have made him.  

 Isaiah 43:21 – “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall
declare My praise.

When we look to the Merriam-Webster dictionary for a definition of the term
“praise” we find that it means to express a favorable judgement of, or in the
case of God, to glorify, especially by the attribution of perfections.

So, another purpose we are to serve is to attribute perfection to God. To
me, this means that we recognize God as the standard of perfection, and utilize
that standard, to the best of our ability, in how we live our lives.

We frequently think of praising God in terms of employing prayer and song as
the primary means of expressing our admiration and gratitude. However, we
shouldn’t overlook how our thoughts and actions make an even stronger statement
of our respect for what God does. How we treat our fellow man, how we form our
world view, how we react to events in the world and in our communities, how we
incorporate God’s word into our day to day lives are all a stronger statement of
what we believe than the words of a song or even a prayer. Jesus said in
Matthew 15:8 – “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Me.”

Matthew 16:15-16-“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the
whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…” As
Christians it is also important to understand that we are directed to spread
the word of God. But merely talking about God isn’t enough. Note the part that
says “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…” . We are
supposed to be effective in our proclamation of the gospel. And it’s not all
about God seeking glory. It’s about providing others with a guide to vastly
improve their existence beyond their death. To do this, we need credibility and
conviction. As we become convinced about the veracity of the word of God and
His dominion over all things, we begin to behave in accordance with the
teachings in the Bible. The more we are able to demonstrate the way adhering to
God’s laws improves a person’s life the more credibility we gain and the more real and believable our testimony on the Bible becomes.

So our purpose to “declare God’s praise” reads more like – be an
example of God’s amazing work so that when people see you they see God’s glory.