When is the last time you thought about approaching your day with joy and enthusiasm? We are prone to express joy and enthusiasm when things go according to plan, when we accomplish our goals, or feel good.
God expects us to approach life and serve Him with joy and enthusiasm.
Psalms 100:2 (ESV) Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Philippians 4:4 (ESV) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Luke 10:27 (ESV) And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart,
Psalms 119:58 (ESV) I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.
God expects us to put something into life and to following Him. Most people approach life as takers rather than givers. Consequently, they live with unfulfilled expectations and become complainers and depressed over what is going on in life. God’s way is totally different. God’s way for us to approach life is to find the joy in serving Him as we serve Him with gratitude and enthusiasm.
You will find in the book of Deuteronomy that God gave a list of blessings for obeying Him, and a list of curses for not doing what He said. In the midst of the curses, He also presented the approach to serving Him as well as the motivation behind it.
Deuteronomy 28:47-48 (ESV) 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Deuteronomy 28:47 (New Living Translation) Because you have not served the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received,
The people were told that a curse would follow because they had not served God with joy and enthusiasm.
Whoa! Back up and read that again.
Before you think that sounds pretty harsh, remember God gives the driving force behind the instruction; the abundant benefits He has already given.
Are you serving God with joy and enthusiasm?
Please note that God doesn’t expect us to stir up this joy and enthusiasm on our own. It comes from appreciating what God has already done in our lives and allowing the flow of gratitude and the joy that comes from Him to send us forward with joy and enthusiasm.
Psalm 68:19 (King James Version) Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.
Picture a HUGE truck filled with benefits and blessings. That’s what God is doing for you every day. These benefits include eternal benefits, daily provisions and protection – all the things we enjoy, including life and breath.
God is looking for us to express our gratitude for all He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and even for what He has promised to do. Anything less than joy and enthusiasm is cutting Him short. What has He done in your life?
There are benefits to making sure we serve Him with joy and enthusiasm. You won’t be able to contain either joy or enthusiasm by serving God. It will spill over to all you do and have a positive effect on everything.
God not only provides the motivation and the instruction to serve Him, but He adds to our life when we follow Him.
Matthew 13:12 (ESV) For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
God does things in a big way, with joy and enthusiasm, so it pays you to review your benefits and allow yourself the opportunity to be joyful and enthusiastic in response to Him today. Be sure you are allowing the joy and enthusiasm from Him to spring forth. This will not only draw a greater appreciation of the blessings from Him, thereby opening wide the gate for even more blessings, but joy and enthusiasm also gives great opportunities to bless others and be an attraction of even greater blessings in life.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
