by Recently, my morning devotions took me through I Samuel 12 and one of the studies was on serving the Lord. However, I wanted to ponder this a bit further.
Here are a few verses:
I Samuel 12:20 “And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart;”
I Samuel 12:24 “Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”
Before we talk about how to serve the Lord, let us take a moment and think about the wrong ways people serve the Lord.
- Necessity – Whether good or bad, some people serve the Lord because of some underlying necessity. For example: Some people have businesses, and they serve in a local church to gather customers for their business. Also, people serve in a local church because it is a good place to make nice friends or find a good spouse.
- Obligation – Some people serve the Lord out of obligation. Usually this is an obligation to others. Maybe a family member serves in the church and they feel obligated to go to church so there will not be contentions in the household.
- Guilt – Some people serve the Lord because they feel guilty for something they have done in the past and want to do good to make up for the guilt of the bad thing.
- False Pretences – Some people serve the Lord but have never come to know him as their personal Saviour. They either have never actually accepted him as their Saviour, or they believe he is their Saviour through ‘their own way’ of trying to make him their Saviour.
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Now let us get back to the verses above on how to properly serve the Lord.
I Samuel 12:20 “And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart;”
I Samuel 12:24 “Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”
In these verses, God mentions two ways to serve him:
FIRST
“Serve the Lord with all your heart.”
- “All” means with everything, wholeheartedly, during the duration of something, wholly, etc.
- I like the ‘during the duration.’ It means while serving the Lord – one will do it with their whole heart and give their all and during the whole duration of their service.
- Think about something in life that you put your whole heart into. Maybe it is a hobby or sport like quilting, gardening, fishing, hunting, swimming, exercising, etc. Most people give their ‘all’ when they are involved in these activities. Now think, “Do you give the same ‘all’ when you are serving the Lord?”
I will use myself as an example. Most of my friends know I love gardening. So, I think about it this way. When I am gardening, usually, I am giving my all to do the best I can in the garden. But I have to ask myself, “Do I give the same ‘all’ when I go to church?”
Also, when I am gardening, I usually give my all through the whole duration of working in the garden. Many times, I even overdo it and my body feels the aches and pains the next day. Now, I have to ask myself, “Do I also give this much in my service to my Lord? Do I overdo it when I serve him?”
Now, anyone can ask themselves the same questions I asked myself above and see if one is serving the Lord with “all your heart.”
SECOND
“Serve him in truth with all your heart.”
- Second the Lord tells us to serve him in truth. I pondered this for a bit and wondered why would God tell us to serve him in truth? Then it struck me, during my Bible study, and I added #4 above in the wrong reasons people serve the Lord. Since some people are serving the Lord under false pretences – they are lying:
- when they walk into the church looking like a Christian
- when they act like a born-again believer
- when they serve in church and those around them believe they are a child of Christ
Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart…”
I believe people tend to forget that God sees and knows our heart. We as people see and know people from what we learn on the outside. We do not see the inside of people. We do not see the heart, only God has that privilege. So, this helps to tie together the verses of how to serve the Lord.
In conclusion, don’t be serving the Lord because of:
- necessity
- obligation
- guilt
- false pretences
Make sure you are serving the Lord with:
- “with all your heart” and
- “in truth.”
Remember God is searching our hearts and he knows all. We cannot hide anything from God. This would be a good time for one to get some things right if one needs to and make sure you are serving the Lord in the way he wants you to serve.
