[A
Monday / Wednesday / Friday Devotional Feature of the First Road Blog]
If
we are to let others praise us instead of praising ourselves, and if praise can
be either a flatterer’s trap or the love language of a grace giver, then there are a few implications to be considered.
First, each individual should be concerned with sowing grace more than harvesting accolades. The successful man, especially, should delight in honoring those whose shoulders carry a
weight of responsibility for his achievements.
Second,
praise is part of doing
to others as we would want them to do to us.
But,
third and more precisely, praise should be the
natural outflow of love for God which directs us to show his love to our
neighbor. This
is a sanctifying implication. The first two can become self-serving. However,
with God receiving all of our love, we express his
encouraging grace of good words (blessings) to others inside and outside the
household of faith.
This
means the cliché “doing the right thing is its own reward,” may be true for the one doing
good, but withholding praise for good being done is not an option for the
observer or recipient of the good being done.
It
also means praise is not to be manipulative. This raises a caution regarding “sandwich psychology.” When praise is habitually followed by a request or
by a criticism, it becomes a tool and not a grace.
By
a grace I mean, weeding is important for a beautiful garden, but so is watering. Praise is a way of letting a neighbor or a fellow believer or a family member know you
see them as a person of value. And by value I mean something other than his “contribution”
to the good of your team. Erford may not be an asset to your bowling league, but
he is your neighbor or your brother in Christ. God has put him in your life for
a reason. Look for ways to tell Erford you’re glad he exists as a person.
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