Deuteronomy 13:4 - Serving with a willing heart

Deuteronomy 13:4 - It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. When you think of service, what comes to mind? Do you think of military service, church service, food service, etc? Whatever you think of, it all boils down to one simple thing, one person doing a deed for another. In our passage today we are called to serve God. The question is what does that mean? We can not do anything on our own that God can not do Himself, so how do we serve Him? We serve Him by allowing Him to use us to His will. We serve Him by following His teachings and letting His light shine through us into the darkness. We serve Him by loving Him. But in order for us to truly serve Him though, it has to be done with a willing heart. We all have had stuff that we had to do against our will. Go to a play, visit relatives, work longer hours, or something along those lines. When we do it against our will, it shows. It shows on our face, in our body language, and in everything we do. We have a tendency to do that with service at times to. God wants a willing heart, not one serving him based on guilt or a feeling of being obligated. That is not serving God with all your heart, that’s just going through the motions. Keep in mind, He knows our hearts, He knows when we are really serving Him. This service is a full time job. Serving God is the absolute necessity and expectance of being a Christian. This is not an option. There is no such thing as spiritual unemployment or retirement. He does not stop doing for us so why would we ever want to stop doing for Him? God's people do not serve him in order to be forgiven but because we are forgiven. The child of God works not for life but because of life, not to be saved but because we are saved. We serve to show our gratitude and love for all that He does for us. Serving God is a joy and should be done with a joyful heart. Look into you own lives, are you serving God in your life? If so, are you doing so with reluctance of willingly and with joy? We have a great and mighty God, it is my honor to be able to serve Him. How do you feel about serving Him today?