Seeking God's Praise and Not Man's

    

     As a child, I use to do projects, chores, and work hard just to receive praise from my mom and dad. I would bust my butt on a project just so I could hear my mom and dad tell me “you are such a hard worker, you did a great job!” As kids, our Mother and Father are the two most important people in our life. They're who we aim to please and genuinely want praise from. 

     As a father now, I see my child seeking my praise just like I did when I was young. My son will carry laundry to the washroom and with his tiny arms, try to reach up and throw the laundry into the washing machine, one piece at a time. When he sees me pulling the garbage out of the kitchen bin, he will rush over and grab the bag, then drag it outside to the outdoor cans. It blows my mind every time how much he wants to help! All the while, he is smiling and giggling! I make it a point to clap my hands and tell him "Great job buddy! Thank you for helping daddy!" followed by a high five.

     Unfortunately, as we get older, we continue to seek the praise of Man instead of our Heavenly Father. Most of our attention moves to our friends, co-workers, bosses, and spouses, etc. 

“for they loved human praise more than praise from God.”

John 12:43 NIV

     Those who seek human praise can be misled. For example, If we are around others with bad influences, you seek their praise, which leads us to making bad decisions to attain that praise. That’s where the phrase “Be careful who you hang out with” comes from. Plus, man's praise has its limits. God's is limitless! 

"Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.'" 1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV

     When we switch our attention towards God, we need to share that same enthusiastic spirit our kids have towards us!  Be overjoyed and rush in towards God's Praise! Read the bible, pray to God, and ask him to guide you where he wants you so that you can do the work he has assigned to you. Run towards the work God has given you with a big smile like our kids do! 

     If we seek his praise, we will always be around the best kind of influence and his praise will fill you with joy! When we do the work God has given us, he will bless us, and like Josh said in the last post, remember to say "thank you" in our Praise back to God.

     In the end, I can only imagine how great that day will be, when we receive the best praise of all. When God looks at us and says “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Feel free to share in the comment section below. We would love to hear back from our readers! 

Ken is a blogger at Christian Pals Blog. He enjoys anything creative and playing golf.
Proud father, husband, and servant of God.

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