T H E O P H I L U S

Psalm 100

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
² Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Why do we serve the Lord? Some might say they do it out of a feeling of owing God for what he has done for us, and some might say it is simply what Christians ought to do to display their righteousness. We may serve God and serve people around us because we have a sense of duty or obligation to do so. But many of us can attest to the feeling of when somebody is around even when they don’t want to be, especially when there is work involved that stretches the boundaries of our comfort zone. As a believer I have heard many times from pastors (and I have even preached this as well), that we ought to always seek to be uncomfortable in our spiritual walks with God. While this holds theologically true, today I rather take another approach to our service to God.

What God takes pleasure in is when we worship Him and enjoy Him. Worship cannot be forced. Worship is a matter not only of one’s choice in the mind, but a choice in our hearts. Thus when we serve the Lord, we serve him as an act of worship. If it is worship, it does not matter how messy or how menial the task – we are glad to do it! Sometimes this may mean to serve those we have a hard time loving. But even then, we serve out of gladness in knowing the Lord and what he has done for us. Then with what heart and attitude does the Lord delight in our serving him? It is when we do it with real gladness and joy. When we recognize who the Lord is and worship him who has made us, and acknowledge our gladness to be his children.

What we ought to be weary of is the idea that I need to serve God in order to be righteous. As that heart is an indicator to use behind our own motivations. Are we serving the Lord because we’re trying to gain God’s favor somehow? That if I do this, that somehow God will be pleased, and thus bless me more? That if I live this way, then God will let me into heaven when I die? But see, that rather is a heart of fear – a heart that does not trust in the grace of God. It reveals the motivations that we are only serving God for the things God has to offer us – rather than serving because we love him whole heartedly – and that we would do anything to pour our lives upon him as he has done for us.

When we serve out of debt, duty and guilty obligation, remember that there is nothing you can do to earn the love of Christ. There is certainly nothing we can do or accomplish to make up for our sins nor obtain salvation. Instead, we serve out of gladness that the Lord has taken us in even while we were still sinners, and that the Lord’s love for us is not conditional or finite but eternal and everlasting! Such gladness results from what great news that truly is to us. Thus today, serve Him out of gladness from your heart as you reflect on the good news of the gospel. Serve with a heart of worship, and serve with a heart of faith and love for Him. That is the kind of service the Lord takes delight from you.