Praising God Should Not be an Obligation.

Psalm 150:1-5
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

I've been to a few conferences and concerts with my youth group in the last year or two and all were amazing in their own way. Thousands of teenagers gathered together, all one for one common reason - to praise God. There's always such high energy in those arenas, auditoriums, conference centers, or in the "big room" as DCLA called it. Why is there so much energy? Is it because of the live bands? Is it because of the motivational and inspiring speakers? Every moment is like a huge teenage party for God.

I loved how we had to get a good seat too. In D.C., I know most nights we waited right by the entrance in the front to get into the "big room" for more than an hour. We were so excited!

Now, can you imagine walking into church every week rushing to get to the front row? I know it goes through our minds sometimes that we could be sleeping in on a Sunday morning or there are so many errands to get done today, therefore there's no reason to be excited for church. So we say "whatever" and we don't care about being in the front row. I don't understand why it's so hard to get going on a Sunday morning and it's not so hard at a conference or even a concert. I mean I can see why, but why can't we break out of these habits?

No matter which way you slice it, there's so much to celebrate. We really have no excuse not to praise God. He loves you like you can't imagine. There's no forcing you to praise God. Instead, be joyful toward God when you mean it. Pray about it though, and maybe you'll end up praying about it so much that you'll just end up praising him with your everything. Try to stop putting God on your whatever list!