The streets of our heavenly home are not only made of pure gold but, amazingly and almost incomprehensibly, they are also described as being as transparent as glass. Surely gold that is polished until it looks like transparent glass would function as a mirror.
The Bible tells us that when we get to Heaven all of our sins and flaws will fall away, and we will be like Jesus. With our unique personalities and characteristics, every single one of us is going to perfectly reflect the character of Christ. And as we walk on streets that reflect like mirrors, every step we take and every move we make is going to bring glory to Him.
The apostle John gives us a thrilling glimpse into a universal celebration that one day we are going to participate in. He describes four living creatures who surround the throne on which Jesus reigns supreme over the universe. These living creatures never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:8, NIV). Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, the twenty-four elders fall down before him and worship him. And as the elders praise the person of Jesus Christ, millions of angels join in the chorus, singing in a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then John describes the entire universe beginning to roar in the continuous, contagious acclamation of Christ as every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea sings: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!'”
So . . . who is praising Christ because you are?
The apostle Paul knew the secret of victory when he and Silas were thrown into the inner cell of a prison, their feet fastened in stocks, because they had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:24-25, NIV). As a result of their praise, an earthquake collapsed the prison, the jailor was converted, and they were set free! Paul maintained that spirit of praise until the end of his life when he once again found himself in chains in a Roman prison, yet emphatically declared, “I will continue to rejoice” (Phil 1:18, NIV).
I doubt if, during either of those imprisonments, Paul felt like praising. But he had learned to walk by faith, not by his feelings. And today he commands you and me to exercise our will, making the deliberate, conscious choice to “rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
King David knew that the secret of victory over adversity was a conscious choice to praise God. Again and again, as he cries out to God in prayer, we hear his choice to praise: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? . . . Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. . . . But I will trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me” (Ps. 13:2-6, NIV). David, hounded by Saul and living as a fugitive for years in a nation where he was the national hero as well as the anointed king, exercised his will to praise God even when he just didn’t feel like it.
Praise is the switch that turns on the light of joy in our lives even when it’s “dark” outside. And the resulting “light” causes others to see the glory of God in our lives.
Who is praising Jesus because you are? If your praise – and mine – is interrupted by . . .
our circumstances or our complaints,
our selfishness or our suffering,
our desires or our depression,
our indifference or our insistence,
or by anything at all . . .
the light will grow dim in our lives as we sink into the mire of self, and instead of causing others to praise Him, we will drag them down into the darkness with us.
So would you praise Him? And keep on praising Him! Praise Him for __________. You fill in the blank with an attribute of Christ.
