Delight is Praise
Rev. Jeff Wood, First Presbyterian Church of Sebastian
WeLoveFirst.org & Facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian
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I did a wedding recently. Part of my remarks in a wedding service are about the gift of marriage. I say how it is a gift. I say a few other things and then, “Let marriage be honored by all.” How do you best honor marriage? By writing an essay about it or more so by greatly enjoying that gift? Or consider the wife. The wife is praised, is she not? less by words of praise about her and more by the husband’s plain delight in her. She is exalted by being enjoyed.
The Westminster Confession asks what is the chief end of man. To glorify God and enjoy him forever. It does not ask what are the two chief ends of man. It asks what is THE chief end. There is one chief end and it is stated in synonyms – glorify and enjoy. To enjoy is to glorify. To glorify is to enjoy.
As we quite naturally move from that on which the sunbeam falls to the source of the sunbeam, from scent to the flower, from art to artist, from creation to creator … we are, in all that, enjoying him.
When I read a book I think is profound, I look to see who the author is. What else has she done? Where was she educated? What’s her training? Same with God – we look about and ask who made that starry night that I am so tantalized with? The horse that is so lithe in its gallop? The geyser with its blasting steam? The hummingbird on rotating wing? We quite naturally move from these to the one who conceived them.
God is most praised by our enjoyment of his gifts and our enjoyment of him. He leads us to him through his gifts.
First Presbyterian of Sebastian, 1405 Louisiana Ave. 32958 / 772-589-5656
Welovefirst.org & facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian
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