Evening, January 9

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"Serve the Lord with gladness."

  Psalm 100:2

   Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God
   with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are
   not serving him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is
   absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace his throne; he is the Lord
   of the empire of love, and would have his servants dressed in the
   livery of joy. The angels of God serve him with songs, not with groans;
   a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience
   which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the
   heart, and if he seeth that we serve him from force, and not because we
   love him, he will reject our offering. Service coupled with
   cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful
   willingness from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his
   sincerity. If a man be driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who
   marches into the fray with flashing eye and beaming face, singing, "It
   is sweet for one's country to die," proves himself to be sincere in his
   patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of
   the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is
   to our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without
   oil the axle soon grows hot, and accidents occur; and if there be not a
   holy cheerfulness to oil our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with
   weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that
   obedience is his element; he can sing,


   "Make me to walk in thy commands,

   'Tis a delightful road."

   Reader, let us put this question--do you serve the Lord with gladness?
   Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be
   slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness
   proclaim that we serve a good Master.