Serving with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart
(Deu 28:47,48) Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
These verses really caught my attention this week. Here, God says judgment will come as a result of not serving God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. Think about that!!! How often we simply serve God as a result of duty. Our joy is not in God. Many Christians are serving the Lord but NOT with joyfulness and gladness of heart. This is wrong and the Lord is not pleased with this. What a thought! The Lord is not pleased when we are not pleased in Him
The Lord does not want us simply to serve him because it is our duty. He wants us to serve him because we find joy in Him. I do not want my service to be about duty, I want it to be about love. I do not want my convictions from the Bible to be a burden, but rather a joy. Oh, how we need to delight ourselves in the Lord, as the Psalmist pointed out to us.
Christian are you serving God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, or is it duty, tradition, or trying to gain the favor of God? The truth we see from Deuteronomy 28 is that it is not simply our service that pleases God, but when we have joy in our service for God. Oh, how we need to find joy in our LORD!
3 comments:
Hey Bro,
I originally had intentions of adding, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.", to my post in another paragraph and tie it together with my thought.
I think the great commandment is the heart of Deuteronomy 28:47. Now, love encompasses more than that verse of course, but you can not accomplish Deut 28:47 without love being the motive.
So, yes I agree with your conclusion on my post. :)
This comment is from Jerry Bouey. He had trouble posting on here, so I am putting his comments here for him.
Last Friday, I preached on some of the Ten Commmandments and the purpose of the Law (Galatians 3:24). One of the questions I asked those at the Mission was: What is the Greatest Sin? My Pastor always says, "The Greatest Sin would be to break the Greatest Commandment - we are all guilty." (See James 2:10)
Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for doing what sinful man could never do - fulfill the requirements of the Law. Any sinner that believes can have His righteousness credited to their account. One of my favourite names of Jesus: The Lord Our Righteousness - Jeremiah 23:6.
God bless.
Jerry Bouey
http://www.earnestlycontending.com/ewministries
Hey Jerry,
One my favorite verses is II Cor 5:21 "For he hath made him sin for us who no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
It is great to know the Lord gives us His rightesousness!
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