I really won't be posting every day.. I think..

I realize I said I wouldn't post this much, and I'm sure in reality, I won't as soon as I start my teaching work officially. But oh, well. I have a lot on my mind.
As I said last week, I've been working through a Charles Spurgeon book on praising God. I don't know, I've heard all of this before, but this time in these words, all of it's just hitting me a bit harder.
Talking about Psalm 103:1-Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name-Spurgeon says, "Only a holy man can delight in holy things. Holiness is the terror of unholy men. They love sin and consider it liberty, but holiness is slavery to them. If we are saints, we will bless God for His holiness, and be glad that in Him, there is neither spot nor flaw. He is without iniquity. Just and righteous is He. Even to save His people, He would not violate His law. Even to deliver His own beloved from going down into the pit, He would not turn away from the paths of justice. "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty" (Rev 4:8) is the loftiest cry of cherubim and seraphim in their perfect bliss. It is a joyous song both to the saints on earth and those in heaven. The pure in heart gaze on divine holiness with awestruck joy."
I don't know why that hit me, but it did. How privileged are we that we have a God who makes us clean so that we can delight in Him? How can we continue to sin when we know a God like ours? Are we not doing Him injustice by doing so? If we are called to glorify Him with every breath we breathe, shouldn't we do so by not only doing so in mind, but obedience, and by bring His children to Him?
Spurgeon goes on to say, "David praised God not only with his lips, not only with his hands on the harp strings, not just with his eyes lifted toward the heaven, but also with his soul, his very self, his truest self. Never let me present to God the outward and superficial alone, but let me give to Him the inner and the sincere. Never let me bring before Him merely the outward senses that my soul uses, but the soul that uses these inner faculties. No 'whitewashed tombs' (Matt 23:27) will please the Lord... We must not merely bless the Lord with our bodies, which will become dust, but with our inner spiritual natures, which make us like angels. Our spiritual natures are that which cause it to be said that in the image of God we were create. My spiritual nature, my loftiest powers, must magnify God- not with a voice that sings a self-righteous song of praise, but with a sincere heart; not with lips that cry 'Hosanna' thoughtlessly, but with a mind that considers and intelligently worships. Not with the narrow confines of my body would I sing this song, but I would fill the limitless regions through which my spirit soars on wings of boundless thought with Jehovah's praise. My real self, my best self, will bless the Lord."
It's so easy to fall into a rut of praising God out of habit, only on Sundays. Our God is bigger than that, deserves much more than that. Though all we have to give is already His, our efforts to love and praise Him please Him. Spurgeon quotes 1 Chronicles 29:14, which says "Of Your own we have given You." I think that sums it up. All we have is His. He sacrificed for us. For us. We are undeserving, so why don't we give Him our all?
Why don't we give Him our focus, strive for what little understanding we can achieve, praise Him with all we have, our souls?
The last bit of Spurgeon I'm going to throw at you today is his question, "My immortal soul, why are you spending your energies upon mortal things? Will you hunt for fleeting shadows while you are most real and enduring? Will you collect bubbles, knowing that you will endure forever in a life coexistent with God Himself, for He has given you eternal life in His Son Jesus?"
I find myself worrying about the fleeting, chasing the shadows only this life will know. Why? I have an eternity with my Saviour and Prince to look forward to?
Anywho. We've been invited to a lawn party at a family's house this afternoon, so I think I'm going to do some more reading and preparing before then.
grace and peace