Tuesday's Toss-up is here again! It's YOUR turn to comment on my blog, and I can't wait to read your profound, funny, and at times, life changing thoughts!
Here's how it works... Read the quote, process it a bit, and comment on what the quote means to you (it's a long one today!). Oh, and don't worry about the length or theology behind your comment ... it can be short & sweet, or long and detailed... just GO FOR IT!!
"You are great, Lord, and greatly to be praised. Great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no end. And man, who is part of what you have created, desires to praise you. Yes, even though he carries his mortality wherever he goes, as the proof of his sin and the testimony of your justice, man desires to praise you. For you have stirred up his heart so that he takes pleasure in praising you. You have created us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."
The Confessions of St. Augustine
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11 comments:
God IS great! God made us in a way that causes a restlessness when we are away from Him. But when we find ourselves in a place of praise and worship to God, our creator, that is when we are made complete. That is when we find all joy, that is when our heart truly rests.
Thank you for this important reminder....Focus, Kim, Focus!
Man is created to praise God. We were made for a relationship with Him. A relationship of love and praise and worship. Unless we have that kind of relationship with God, we aren't satisfied.
The book of Ecclesiastes states it perfectly. It says all is vanity. Now I don't think that Solomon meant to just sit in your house and do nothing because life was pointless anyway. I think he meant that he'd tried the life away from God. He had all the money he wanted. He had all the sex he wanted. (I mean the man had 700 wives and 300 concubines.) He was probably surrounded by people who wanted to be his friend. But he said that all was vanity. His life of sin didn't satisfy. It was only in following the Lord and praising him that he found true peace.
So when I ever start longing for the things this world has to offer, I go back to Ecclesiastes, and I remember what I'm truly made for.
He IS great! We are created with a desire/need to praise Him. We confuse this need and praise/worship other things, but that part of us was meant to praise our Creator. I love the part that says "our hearts are restless until they rest in you." So true. Unless I'm resting in Him, I find myself wandering around aimless.
I am learning more and more as I grow older that I am truly restless apart from my intimate relationship with Christ.
When I begin to aimlessly wander apart from Him, and I inevitably do, I must do exactly what kpjara said, "Focus!!"
When my mind is stayed on Him, in that place alone I find peace and contentment -- as it should be.
Yes, we were created for God! And we were created to praise Him! Only when we are fullfilling this are we truly where we are supposed to be in this life. It made me think of different appliances I have all piled up in my cupboard. They were all "created" (invented) for a purpose, but if they are not doing what they were made to do, they are just there, not fullfilling their purpose.
And when I think of praising God, it extends farther out than just singing or raising my hands to Him. I want my life to be a praise song to Him, all that I do to be a worship to Him. A lofty & high goal and one that I will work toward all my days here on earth and never perfect. When all that I do is done in worship for Him then my heart is peaceful & resting in Him.
I'm not sure if this makes sense to anyone else but myself but these were my first thoughts on it. This is such a cool thing. I love reading & learning from everyone's thoughts & comments & perspectives. Someone always brings things up I could never have thought of myself. Thanks GiBee for hosting & thinking of Tuesday TossUp.
Psalms 34: 1-10
1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
There are too many thoughts that I have on examples and scriptures for praising God through thick and thin, in good times and bad, when we are mindful of our sins and when we ignorant.
I know that we were made to praise and honor God. I thank God for stirring my heart, making me notice His glory and holiness, holding my face still to (use a mother's tone here) "Look. At. Him". More and more am I remembering "Rejoice in the Lord always," even when my heart is burdened with sorrows and I do not see the joy. I know that in His time, He will open my eyes to them. And despite my burdens, God is still God and He is ever worthy of all praise.
reminds me of a Martha Munizzi song "I was created to make Your praise glorious"
I have that exact quote written in a notebook-I love it. I think it speaks to the inner desire in each man to find God and to be filled by Him, that is the only way we find fulfillment. The longing that everyone has for purpose is only found in a life following God!
"Yes, even though he carries his mortality wherever he goes, as the proof of his sin and the testimony of your justice, man desires to praise you."
I love this, it's so true! I have so much to praise and thank God for in my life! Despite the fact that I don't always deserved it, God has chosen to bless me in so many ways.
Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ!
That last sentence pretty much sums up all of human existence, doesn't it? Thanks, Gibee.
I was created to praise God. And in all things I can praise Him!
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