Our topic for the week is "being praise-worthy." Put simply, what about your life deserves praise?
There is a real difficulty regarding praise in our culture. We are in an age of praise. We all praise everything all the time. Our children get praise for everything they do (even when they do poorly). We give trophies for "trying hard," even to children who do not try at all. We have grade inflation at every educational level. People think they should be praised for getting to work on time (or within a few minutes of their time).
We hear sermons telling men how "important it is" to "praise your wife," to which many men privately respond, "But for what?" Proverbs 31 does not say that men "ought to praise their wives." It says that the husband of an excellent wife does praise her. This is not a command to men. It is describing reality. Men will praise when praise is earned.
So, your goal is to ask the simple question: "Does my husband praise me?" If so, then for what does he praise you? If not, then why not? The answer is for you to become praise-worthy.
Praise arises from what we do, not from what we wanted to do or thought we might do or how we feel about something. What do you do? Proverbs tells us that "the works of her hands" praise her, so what are the works of your hands? If you are a homemaker, does your home bring forth praise? When someone visits, do they comment on how beautiful things look? Do they remark on how well-behaved your children are? Do they admire how well you do the works of your life? If you work outside the home, how do you work? Do you work faithfully? Do you work with your husband to make the family/work balance make sense in your home?
If you are not receiving praise, then there is a reason. Perhaps what you think is praise-worthy really isn't done so well after all. Perhaps you are doing a good job at something that is of no importance to anyone.
Do the works of your hands praise you? Do people praise you because of what you do? Are you praise-worthy?
There is a real difficulty regarding praise in our culture. We are in an age of praise. We all praise everything all the time. Our children get praise for everything they do (even when they do poorly). We give trophies for "trying hard," even to children who do not try at all. We have grade inflation at every educational level. People think they should be praised for getting to work on time (or within a few minutes of their time).
We hear sermons telling men how "important it is" to "praise your wife," to which many men privately respond, "But for what?" Proverbs 31 does not say that men "ought to praise their wives." It says that the husband of an excellent wife does praise her. This is not a command to men. It is describing reality. Men will praise when praise is earned.
So, your goal is to ask the simple question: "Does my husband praise me?" If so, then for what does he praise you? If not, then why not? The answer is for you to become praise-worthy.
Praise arises from what we do, not from what we wanted to do or thought we might do or how we feel about something. What do you do? Proverbs tells us that "the works of her hands" praise her, so what are the works of your hands? If you are a homemaker, does your home bring forth praise? When someone visits, do they comment on how beautiful things look? Do they remark on how well-behaved your children are? Do they admire how well you do the works of your life? If you work outside the home, how do you work? Do you work faithfully? Do you work with your husband to make the family/work balance make sense in your home?
If you are not receiving praise, then there is a reason. Perhaps what you think is praise-worthy really isn't done so well after all. Perhaps you are doing a good job at something that is of no importance to anyone.
Do the works of your hands praise you? Do people praise you because of what you do? Are you praise-worthy?
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