Do You Serve God From A Place Of Duty Or Delight?

Do you serve God from a place of duty or delight? When we base it on duty, we “serve” Him because we know it is what we should do, not because it is what we want to do. We pursue all the things they say a good Christian should such as read our bible, pray and do good deeds for the poor. However, we do not do these things to develop intimacy with the Father and to please Him. We do them so we can cross them off our daily checklist. When we serve Him from a place of duty, it is hard for us to receive His mercy and grace and give the same to others. We base our salvation on works and when we mess up, we sink into deep condemnation and put more merit and what we can do to keep ourselves saved. We cling tight to legalism because it feels safe and measurable. We are rigid, not much evidence of joy. We obsess about our reputation and presenting a good image of ourselves to others because we are more concerned with drawing people to ourselves instead of drawing them to Him. We base our devotion to God on an unhealthy fear instead of love. But what sweetness comes when we serve Him from a place of delight! We are keenly aware of our need for Him. We swim in the river of grace and mercy that abounds, not looking to abuse it but embracing it to pursue holiness. A holiness we know we could never achieve in our own strength. We are not ashamed to declare our love for Him with boisterous praise and surrendered lives. Our adoration for Him freely flows without the need to follow a script or a designated time.  There are no boundaries to our worship. We know He has an open-door policy for us to come boldly before the throne, and we make good of it. Instead of running away when we mess up, we run to Him, quick to confess, repent and bask in His forgiveness because we understand He loves us with an everlasting love. Our time of devotion refreshes instead of leaving us dry and weighed down. We are so aware of His presence because when we delight in Him, we are always looking for Him, so we see Him in ways that others may miss. His whispers drown out the loudest voices. We will be vulnerable and share our weakness and share how God has delivered and is delivering us. We share not intending to bring attention to ourselves but to bring attention to Him so that other broken people are moved to delight in Him and find the same freedom we are experiencing. So I ask again, do you serve God from a place of duty or delight?

Psalm 16:11 NIV

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.