The first and foremost duty of a Christian is to praise the Lord. Many Saints teach us that the biggest grace is the grace to open our hearts and praise God.
Why should we praise God? Because we are a people chosen to praise the Lord! ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light’ (1 Pet 2:9).
The very first commandment God gave his chosen people exhorted them to praise and worship God. As for the priests and Levites who were specially selected from the tribes of Israel, no duty other than praising God, offering sacrifices, and serving in the temple were given. They were barred from having any inheritance within Israel so that they could serve the Lord and continue serving him from dawn to dusk with an undivided heart.
God called a people who was supposed to remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of their own heart and their own eyes’ (Num 15:39-40). God separated them from other nations and sanctified them. ‘For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession’ (Deut 7:6).
As for the New Israel, Paul teaches how and why we are exalted to our present status. ‘He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love’ (Eph 1:4). So let us praise ‘God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3) and fulfill our primary duty as God’s children.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
