Praise and worship, in any form, are key aspects of a Christian’s relationship with God. Many Christians, and often entire churches, lose sight of the reason and importance of having a healthy, strong, and worshipful relationship with God. The simple reason for the church to engage in praise and worship is that, God deserves it. He deserves a church that is eager to gather together and wholeheartedly devote their time, attention, and effort to praising and worshiping their creator and savior.
Worship takes on many forms and can be incorporated into life’s many roles and responsibilities. It can, and should, even be integrated into one’s career and relationships with others. The key aspect of worship is that it is done communally with others. Praise, on the other hand, is done alone. Praise has the potential to be the purest form of communication with God. Since it is done in privacy, the one offering praise has the opportunity to candidly and unabashedly speak with God.
While praise indeed has the potential to be extraordinary, it also has equal, or perhaps more, potential to become lax, tedious, and monotonous. The art of praise should be practiced often, so often in fact that it gives rise to the possibility that it will begin to feel like a chore. The Christians who find themselves feeling the tedium of habitual praise need to look to Paul’s words in Galatians 6:19 when he wrote, “So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.” The Christians who listen to Paul’s words of wisdom could find themselves “reaping a harvest of blessing” in their relationships, in their job or school, in their demeanor, and most importantly in their relationship with God.
