Psalm 100:2 (KJV)
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
This potent little verse was deposited in my heart and mind early this morning as I was listening to Christian radio. Perhaps you have been exposed to it as many times as I have over the years. Nevertheless, today it poked my heart just a little bit differently and I was provoked to ponder it further, so I invite you to join me on my train of thought.
“Serve the Lord with gladness…”
It occurred to me that if the Lord would tell us in His Word to serve
Him with gladness that it is possible to serve God with less than suitable
attitudes as our constant companions. To be honest, from time to time
I have served the Lord with feelings other than gladness. And if you were
honest you would admit the same. In fact, why don’t we all stop
and consider with what mindset we are serving the Lord today. Some saints
serve God with bitterness, some with anger or resentment. Some are presently
serving the Lord with pride, envy, and a spirit of competition. Believe
it or not, Christians are capable of serving the Lord with unforgiveness
and even hatred! Some do what they do for God hauling fear, anxiety, and
depression around on their backs. I would even venture to say that some
of us could serve God with spiteful hearts, hoping to injure certain targets
of a personal nature. No doubt the list of yucky manners that accompany
our service to the Lord is endless because the Bible says our hearts are
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We cannot know the
extent of human corruption like God does. Hence, our heavenly Father tells
us to serve Him with gladness…
The next thought that came to my mind is that if our service to the Lord is escorted by anything other than gladness, then our hearts and minds must be focused on something other than God! Ladies, our service must be carried out with proper vision and pure attention. Are your eyes turned upon Jesus and all He has done for you and can do with, in, and through you? If so, gladness would accompany your service and mine. However, if gladness is not part of your life’s equation, then your eyes are not turned where they should be. Yes, the hands, feet, and mouths of God’s children are occupied with spiritual activity, but we have our eyes on people, position, power, and performance. Is it any wonder then, that gladness has been snatched away from our service and replaced with fleshly muck and mire?
Naturally, as I was led down this train of thought by this intoxicating little verse, I came to the place where I had to confess my need for gladness to the Lord and ask Him to help improve the quality of my Christian service. None of us should want to continue serving the Lord in sorry shape, amen? God deserves purer service than His children give Him! We should be ashamed to accomplish things for God while dragging around a bunch of fleshly garbage in the process. Ladies, we must restore gladness to our lives as believers; we must replace our polluted manners with the type of service God prefers and ought to have! Is your service in keeping with His nature?
Psalm 9:2 (KJV)
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O
thou most High.
Hopefully, by now, the Word of God has motivated you as it did me, to want to make certain that you serve the Lord with an appropriate spirit. Don’t serve the most High with low spirits! Here we have an example of how the psalmist purposed in his heart to be glad. What was his secret? As is the case in our opening scripture, we must plan to enter the presence of our heavenly Father with singing. God loves to be approached by saints that have a song on their lips! Far too many of us come before God with nothing more than frequent complaints. Certainly the Lord is willing and able to handle the many things that overwhelm us, but let’s bring some balance to our Fatherly visits! Add some praise; bring a tributary song as you draw near to the Lord! Ladies, if we would simply make a conscious effort to sing about God’s wonderful qualities we could add gladness to our melancholy disposition! The way we enter His presence is the way we’ll leave. While carrying our concerns to the throne of grace, our main focus should be the character of the Lord…
1 Chron. 16:27 (KJV)
Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his
place.
If you have been saved from your sins and been spared an eternity in hell, then you certainly have plenty to celebrate! If that doesn’t make you glad, nothing will!! As believers, I know we don’t give a fair amount of thought to all that God has done for us simply because we are greatly distracted by things pertaining to life in this world. Hence, our gladness is long gone and the quality of our service of much lesser degree than our soul’s profit calls for.
In conclusion, it struck me that if the Bible exhorts us to serve the Lord with gladness, it must be possible to do so! You see ladies, God’s character never changes and if we kept our eyes on Him neither would our gladness! Our moods and service to the Lord should be regulated by God’s nature. Yes, it’s possible to bring the atmosphere of heaven into all that you do on a daily basis, but whether or not it is probable is up to YOU. It is my hope that you have been challenged, as I was today, to put a heartfelt smile into your service!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2004 Pamela A. Iannello
