"Serve you the Lord with gladness?"
"Serve the Lord with gladness, come before his
presence with singing"
(Psalm 100:2)
Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with
a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving
him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God
requires no slaves to grace his throne; he is the Lord of the empire of love,
and would have his servants dressed in the
livery of joy.
The angels of God serve him with songs, not with
groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks.
That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience,
for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if he seeth that we serve him from
force, and not because we love him, he will reject our offering. Service
coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true.
Take away joyful willingness from the Christian, and
you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a man be driven to battle, he is
no patriot; but he who marches into the fray with flashing eye and beaming
face, singing, "It is sweet for one's country to die", proves himself to be sincere
in his patriotism.
Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the
joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is to
our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and
accidents occur; and id there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil our wells, our
spirits will be clogged with weariness.
The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves
that obedience is his element; be can sing,
"Make me to
walk in thy commands,
'Tis a delightful
road"
Reader, let us put this question - do you serve the
Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our
religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy!
Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.
C. H. Spurgeon