Let everything that has breath praise the LORD Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150:6)
Psalm 150 ends with a crescendo of praise to the Creator. Because God made the heavens and the earth, all of creation has purpose: to glorify God. Humanity strayed from that purpose when our first ancestors decided to shift from God as the center or their lives to making themselves the center of their lives. They replaced the worship of God with the worship of His creation. This deadly exchange led to the broken world we live in. When humanity chose to use their lives (breath) for their own glory, it led to our relationship with God being hostile, our relationships with other humans being fractured and our relationship towards the created world being disordered. We got what we deserved.
But, God in His great mercy, came to us as a human. Jesus taught us what it means to live life for the praise of the Father. Not only was He an example of the perfect human, but on the Cross the Son of God took the punishment for our rebellion against God, sins against others and the world. He rose again from the dead to give us new life in the Spirit, who enables us to once again praise God with our lives. Finally, we anticipate the day when Jesus returns to make everything right, so that creation along with all of God’s people will together praise the Lord in all things. Today, let us anticipate that day by living Spirit-empowered lives that glorify Him!