Serve the Lord with joy; come before Him with singing.
Come into the city with songs of thanksgiving and into His courts with songs of praise.
Thank Him and praise His name.
Psalms 100:2, 4 (NCV)

Serve (v) – to meet the needs of and subject one’s will to that of another.

What catches my attention about the definition of ‘serve’ is that it conveniently leaves out a required attitude.  Based on this definition, I can serve the Lord upset, annoyed, frustrated, tired, happy, or a combination of the lot.  It also fails to take into consideration circumstances.

Let me help put this into perspective:

You’re running late. Your keys are missing. Did I forget to mention that you spent the entire night tossing and turning. You didn’t get your quiet time in. And to top it all off, 9 hours with a classroom of 7 two-year-olds awaits you.

How’s your serve now?

Psalms 100:2 and 4 tell us to, “Serve the Lord with joy; and come before him with singing… Come into the city with songs of thanksgiving and into His courts with songs of praise. Thank Him and praise His name.”   The Lord is clear in how He wants us to serve.  I can’t say I find it easy to do at times, but I do admire the example set forth by Peter’s mother-in-law, in Luke 4:39.

So, he bent over and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  She got up at once and began to wait on them” (emphasis mine.)

Her name is unknown (I’m going to call her Milly), whether she believed in Jesus is unknown, but what it does say is that she was sick, and Jesus healed her, and she immediately got up and served them.  We aren’t told how long she had laid sick.  I believe I can tell you that this wasn’t a part of her plans and, now, she had guests! Jesus, of all people, was at her home!

What I find amazing is that Milly IMMEDIATELY got up and served them. She could have complained, surely she could have scolded Peter for bringing people to their home while she was ill; but she didn’t.  She could have rested, but she didn’t.  She started the task at hand. And notice: no verbal thank you is given in any of the three accounts (Matthew 8:15, Mark 1:31, and here in Luke 4).  Only her actions are recorded, and that’s enough.  Milly didn’t let what had happened to her stop her from serving.

I can’t say if she was joyful when she immediately got up to serve, but I can tell you God strengthens us and heals us, so that we can serve—and that’s plenty to be joyful about and thankful for.

So, how’s your serve?

Thank you, Lord, for setting the standards on our service.  Thank You for strengthening us so that we may serve You. Help me keep my service joyful that all the glory may be Yours.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.