Glad Service

Read: Ephesians 6:5-9

Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. --- Psalm 100:2

The Bible In One Year:
2 Samuel 3-5
Luke 14:25-35

As a boy, I never shared my father's enthusiasm for the soil. For several summers he had a little plot of ground in the country where he planted a garden. It provided physical therapy and relaxation for him, as well as a bountifully laden table for family and friends.

Back then, a hand-pushed plow was used to break up the ground, and the initial plowing, therefore, was often difficult. I remember helping my dad load his cultivator into the trunk one day and going with him to his garden. When we arrived, he prepared to make the first furrow while I took the lunch basket and picked a comfortable seat under the shade of an apple tree.

I was totally unsuspecting as I observed my father attach a rope to both handles of the cultivator and make a harness. Soon an unwilling boy was in front of the plow. Dad pushed and I pulled --- and grumbled. Up one row and down another --- over and over again. How miserable I was doing my duty!

Sometimes when we're asked to serve the Lord in a particular way, we reluctantly accept, but we do so only out of a sense of obligation. When that happens, we need to pray for a willing spirit so that we can "serve the LORD with gladness" [Ps. 100:2]. --- Paul Van Gorder

I am happy in the service of the King,
I am happy, oh, so happy;
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can sing.
In the service of the King. --- Ackley

A WILLING SPIRIT CHANGES THE DRUDGERY OF DUTY INTO A LABOR OF LOVE.