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Q. Isn't it hypocritical to bless God if I don't feel like it?

A. Many think that the only way to change your behavior is to first change your feelings. We take a pill to alter our moods so we won't kick the dog. We turn on mu-sic to soothe our emotions so that our conversation will be less abrasive. But an older wisdom puts it differently: by changing our behavior we can change our feelings.

One person says, "I don't feel like worshiping; therefore I'm not going to church. I'll wait till I feel like it and then I'll go." Another says, "I don't feel like worshiping; therefore I'll go to church and put myself in the way of worship." In the process he finds himself blessed and begins, in turn, to bless.

"Lift your hands in holiness, and bless the Lord," we are instructed in Psalm 134. You can lift up your hands regardless of how you feel; it's a simple motor movement. Lift your arms in blessing; just maybe your heart will get the message and be lifted up also in praise. We're psychosomatic beings; body and spirit are intricately interrelated. Go through the motions of blessing God and your spirit will pick up the cue and follow along.

Humphrey Bogart once defined a professional as a person who "did a better job when he didn't feel like it." That goes for a Christian too. Feelings don't run the show. There's a reality deeper than our feelings. Live by that. Eric Routley writes, in Ascent to the Cross, that, colloquially, to bless means to "speak well of." The Lord has spoken well of you; now you speak well of Him.

Eugene Peterson is a writer and Bible translator.

Adapted from A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (InterVarsity, 1980, 2000) by permission.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

O Lord, You deserve my praise. Help me to offer it up to You and, as I do, experience Your blessing.

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