We all should be willing to work for the Lord, but it is a matter of grace on God’s part. I am of the opinion that we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshiping Him. A worshiper can work with eternal quality in his work. But a worker who does not worship is only piling up wood, hay and stubble for the time when God sets the world on fire.
(A.W. Tozer, Worship and Entertainment, 16)
God desires my worship first before my service. My service will be written in God’s memorial book and He would remember it from time to time as He did Cornelius (Acts 10), but my worship feeds His heart and soul immediately through His in-dwelling Spirit in me. God really enjoys our praises and a person who can truly find this secret wins the heart of God. That is what David did and God called him a person after His own heart.
Even in moments when I do not feel like praising God or the weight of sin bugs me down, the Lord wants me to seek His face and genuinely repent. Even in his moment of utter worthlessness David said in Psalm 51:8-12 (KJV)
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Having been at this far end from God and enjoyed God’s mercy that restored him back to salvation, David recorded in v17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” At the time this statement was made, David was transiting from the state the sinner he was to the righteous man he wanted to be in God’s sight. This shows that it is a heart that is in rhythm with God that God accepts. Therefore when I come to God it should be done with a broken and contrite heart, full of gratitude, praise and worship for His mercy.
Regarding the service I render to Him, I receive grace to work selflessly for Christ not because of the reward which goes with the gospel. Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:1-5 that he views himself as a steward of God and it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. Only a faithful steward is rewarded. Even then he has to wait on the master who would do it at an appropriate time. Paul says in v5, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
The time of reward is still ahead, therefore I will do His service as a vessel of gold, broken and contrite in heart, knowing that my labour will not be in vain.
Help me Lord. Amen!
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