The Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving

"Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to YHWH, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." -Hebrews 13:15

Why is it called a sacrifice of praise? Why doesn't it just say, "Let us continually praise YHWH,"?

Gratitude is an undervalued commodity in our world. It's way too easy to take for granted the many, many blessings we all have. That's not to say that life doesn't have it's share of problems and frustrations, but for most of us, the good vastly outnumbers the bad. And more so, having gratitude in the hard circumstances changes you for the better.

Sometimes praise is a sacrifice. Traditionally we think about animal sacrifice in the Bible, or a soldier sacrificing themselves for their cause. But we also think about giving up our time or money to help someone as a sacrifice, or sacrificing sleep to care for a newborn. But how his praise a sacrifice? It doesn't require physical effort, much time, or even much of an inconvenience.

Praising and thanking YHWH...continually. That's easy to do sometimes, except when...

Someone said something hurtful...I want to confront them.

I've been inconvenienced...I wouldn't mind pointing out exactly how much to the person that caused it.

A workplace situation is unjust...I want to complain.

Something ridiculous is said on social media...I'd like to explain exactly why it's wrong.

A person is being inconsiderate...I feel like telling someone about it.

Life is overwhelming...I want to take it out on someone else.

All of these tendencies - that are so easy to do - have nothing to do with praising or thanking the Creator. Sometimes the sacrifice of thanksgiving means that instead of choosing to verbalize my reasons for being upset or remembering the ways someone has wronged me, I start to praise YHWH. Sometimes the sacrifice means that I don't get to correct the wrong way someone sees me or my actions. Sometimes I need to sacrifice my 'right' to complain about something or how someone has treated me. 

There will always be something to complain about. But having gratitude even when things are hard means our lives are different. Making the choice to praise our Creator and be thankful will change your life.