Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Our responsibility to praise God ought to be a matter of character, not conduct.
When we look at today's Psalm we see a challenge to let praise permeate all of creation. We ought not simply be "praisers," but we ought to help orchestrate an environment of praise.
Yet...all too often...people of faith seem to park their enthusiasm at the church door as they leave. I recall standing next to a woman at Ramstein chapel one Sunday who was nearly delirious with praise. She was sweating, exhausted and mesmerized by the occasion of worship...until she appeared to be in a trance-like state.

I was thinking "this woman has lost her mind!'

Then I thought..."this is really admirable...if it's authentic."

I knew the woman and had to agree she was a person of devout faith...even though I had never witnessed this level of spiritual enthusiasm at the BX or commmissary. We might agree that wouldn't seem appropriate.

We all tend exhibit a conduct and attitude inside those church walls that have very little in common with with the rest of our lives. Yet...if these two segments of our lives are to demonstrate more similarity (and they should), I suggest God will prefer we take the "praise" attitude with us when we leave church rather than bring the "proper" attitude into church when we arrive.

Live boldly out there today...