serving God

a lot of people struggle with the idea of “serving the Lord” because in reality we do all sorts of things that have nothing to do with God directly. you spend 50hrs a week building database software, not reading your Bible or singing Chris Tomlin. but serving God is not just doing “spiritual” things that are directly related to God per se; serving God is simply doing whatever God wants you to do. it’s carrying out whatever God’s will is for your life, for a particular decision, in a particular situation.

when Paul talks about "serving the Lord" in Romans 12:11, he uses the word douleuo which means "to be a slave." a slave serves his master not just by shining his shoes or making his dinner, but by doing anything the master commands. so even if the master commands the slave to serve someone else, that act of service is still in fact serving the master's will.

so the way to serve God is not to unplug from the rest of the world and sing all day. It’s to constantly be asking the question, “God, what do you want me to do?” and, before even getting an answer, being enthusiastically willing to do it.

Charles Spurgeon put it well when he asked: "Has it occurred to you frequently, and does it occur to you constantly to see what the Lord would have you do?"