PRAISE

 Good job!  You're so very talented!  What a gift you have!  I love praise, don't you?  Or maybe I should say, Who doesn't love and need praise?  I remember job evaluations at the end of each year; waiting for my boss to say good job, keep improving here, work on this or that, and yes, you have a earned a giant raise.  Well, that part never happened but a small percentage raise would come and I would feel praised!  Someone had given me a stamp-of-approval.

This yearning is a characteristic we each share.  We long for the praise of our parents, our spouses, our friends.  But then we tend to take it all a step further...the praise that comes from the world sneaks in the back of our minds.  We crave popularity.  We look for acceptance and wonder if our public works will lead to respect and praise from those we don't even know.  How many 'Likes' we get on FaceBook or Instagram is a measure of success we crave.  Somehow the desire for praise has morphed into something more, something dangerous and false.  Something empty.

Am I looking to the praise of man to fulfill me?  Does my employer determine the acceptance of myself?  Who do I give such power to today?  Is the praise of the world meeting me in the desert?

When I learn to give praise to the only ONE worthy of praise, then will I understand.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”  Matthew 4:8-10