Whenever someone asks me to make a list of what I want for my Birthday, I have mixed emotions. Part of me is uncomfortable asking my loved ones for things, while another part of me says telling them what I want is better than getting ties I’ll never wear. So I guess a list isn’t an altogether bad idea.

Did you know that God has made a list of what he wants from us? And when you think about it, we could use some help. How do we know what to get for God? He already owns the whole universe. But fortunately for us, God has provided some ideas in the Bible. Listen to the list: “Through Jesus,…let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name.” It’s a short list. There are only two items on it, the praise of God and the acknowledgement of his name and both are prefaced with “Through Jesus.”

It’s only through Jesus Christ that we are able to praise and worship God. Without him we cannot do it. Without Jesus we can’t even get through to God. Without him our hymns and our prayers are as futile as the falling leaves in Autumn. And it’s only through Jesus that we have the desire and the power to acknowledge the name of God with our lips. Without Jesus we have no relationship to God, no reason for praise and no Lord to acknowledge. It’s only through Jesus that we can give God what he wants.