Let Love Lead
… In Our Service to God – Part III
Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:6-15
Key Verse: Joshua 24:14
“Now, fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness.”
As we read our Key Verse, we might question the idea of “fearing” the Lord, since the Bible tells us that we can approach the throne of God with confidence:
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
Do we “fear” the Lord or go to Him with confidence?
The answer is “yes”. Yes, we are to fear the Lord. But the word “fear” is better understood as “reverence”.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to use the phrase “hollowed is Your Name” which reminds us to have reverence for God.
I don’t fear God in the sense that I’m afraid He doesn’t love me, nor do I believe He is a vengeful God who gets back at me because of my sinfulness. No, I fear Him in the sense that I revere Him as the God of the Universe. I do not want to ever abuse the mercy and grace He has given me.
The second part of our Key Verse reminds us to serve Him.
The Apostle Paul referred to himself as the “servant of God” or “servant of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1).
Do we think of ourselves as servants of God? If not, we ought to start describing ourselves with that title. When we see ourselves as servants, it is more natural to ask God daily what He wants us to do for Him.
The Apostle Paul challenged us to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” as our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1).
Is it possible that today’s church is losing its influence in society because Christ-followers have ceased to think of themselves as servants of God? I hope it is obvious to you that when God’s people no longer see themselves as servants, their service becomes sporadic, or drops off all together.
Finally, our Key Verse describes how our service to God and His Kingdom should be: “with all faithfulness”. Faithfulness is that virtue of remaining loyal and steadfast. If we restate this part of the verse, we might say: be loyal in your service to the Lord, do not ever stop serving Him.
In his letter to the Galatian Christ-followers, Paul wrote:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatian 6:9)
In this verse we see the definition of faithfulness in different words. Do not become weary in your service to God and do not give up.
In the last few years of my ministry, we dropped the idea of “commitment” and went to a flexible approach to serving. No one seemed to want to commit to anything; most people wanted to come and go as they pleased.
Father, open my eyes to where You want me to serve. I will commit to that until You release me from that area of service. In Jesus’s Name, amen.