March 29, 2019 (Friday)
The title of today’s blog is, “Tribute To Whom It Belongs.” And we are thinking of tribute as “words or actions showing respect, gratitude, or affection.”
I think I speak for many people when I join Chuck Swindoll in his tribute to Billy Graham: “My life has been profoundly impacted by Billy Graham–by his lifelong dedication to God’s calling on his life . . . his blameless character and honorable reputation . . . his pure love for God . . . and his straightforward, uncompromising proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” — Charles R. Swindoll
The song, “You Raise Me Up,” includes the magnificent words of praise, “You raise me up to more than I can be.” Those words are terrific praise for someone in your life who has encouraged you in some way to achieve more than you believed possible. For many, these words can surely be applied to the Lord. The lyrics were written by Brendan Graham.
The song, “My Tribute,” is very definitely about what the Lord does in a person’s life. Andrae Crouch wrote, “All that I am, and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee.”
The words of the hymn, “To God Be The Glory,” by Fanny Crosby in 1870, offer tribute: “To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the life gates that all my go in!”
The Apostle Paul’s tribute to Christ is found in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I can think of many people I have known through the years who deserve tribute. I shall not try to name them, for I would surely leave out names that belong in such a list, but on a day of the Father’s own choice, we shall all stand before Christ as He judges all people, and those who deserved praise during their lifetimes will certainly receive it from the Lord. We shall hear the Lord praise those whose names we perhaps have never heard, but who have meant much to the Kingdom of God.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'” (Matthew 25:34-36 NIV)
It is not the praise and accolades we seek; it is the presence of the Lord Himself on that day for which we long and hope. Just to see Him, be with Him, is glory enough. Marshall Hall and his choir express our sentiments about all that: