It strikes me just now, reading this verse for it seems like the hundredth time - I think I may just now be understanding part of it's meaning and for once might have peered momentarily into the depths of understanding this passage.
Crucibles and furnaces test the quality of these precious metals, and even make it possible to refine them into something better. True. That part is probably obvious. Am I so dense as to have missed the second part for so long?? I probably am, and need the humbling enough to admit it in public.
Check out that second part: "...a man is tested by his praise." What?! How do I test the quality of a man? I examine the things that he praises. How do I refine a man into a better man? I change the things he praises.
The man in this story, of course, is me. It's you. None of us can escape the implications here.
How obvious! How simple! Why haven't I seen this all along?
Do I praise the things of this world or the things of God? Do I praise the temporary or the eternal? Praise implies value, and what I value in my life, what I spend time pursuing, what I talk about and read about and sing about and think about - those are the things that I'm praising and those are the things that I'm telling anyone who's watching that I'm praising.
Am I a man after God's own heart or the world's own heart? Easy - do I praise and value God with my whole heart or do I praise and value the things of this world instead? Do I spend more time reading Facebook or God's Word? Do I spend more time gossiping about people or praying for them? Do I spend more time at work or communing with God?
You get my meaning. Somewhere along the way we lost our perspective. We got so caught up trying to build our little kingdoms here on earth that we forgot our original task of preparing for the Kingdom to come ("Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...")
One final verse:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
What are you and I pursuing and is what we're pursuing truly praiseworthy? What needs to change in our hearts and minds to make this verse true in our lives?
