But the most obvious fact about praise whether of God or anything strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. My whole, more general difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate, what we love and praise, what we admire, our joy would not be full.
Praise is the most joyful work in the world.
Therefore, if God is truly for us, if he would give us the best and make our joy full, he must make it his aim to win our praise for himself. Not because he needs to shore up some weakness in himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because he loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can only be found in knowing and praising him, the most beautiful of all Beings. God is the one Being in the entire universe for whom self-centeredness, or the pursuit of his own glory, is the ultimately loving act. For him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue. God is for us, and therefore has been, is now and always will be, first, for himself.