Listen

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with celebration! Come before him with shouts of joy! Know that the Lord is God—he made us; we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his own pasture.

Psalm 100:1-3

Think

At a youth gathering of thousands of teens, my church youth group was assigned our service task for the day: organizing thousands of books for children. This assignment made us grumpy as we wanted to get something more “substantial” done, like building a house or meeting lots of people in need.

We started slowly organizing the books, and the director of the program came into the large room. Boisterously, she exclaimed, “The children will be so blessed by you and these books!  Thank you for bringing them joy.”

Her words made us quickly rethink our grumpy attitudes. Suddenly, songs, dancing, and laughter filled the room as we tossed, sorted, and stacked thousands and thousands of books. Perhaps in that moment, we remembered that serving God means shouts of joy and celebration can be present. Even though we felt like our task was small at first, we were reminded that every task is important as we serve God.

Bryan Jaster

Question to Ponder:

When have you served God with joy and celebration?

Pray

God, I want to serve you with joy and celebration. Help me remember that you made me and that I belong to you. It is a gift to serve you. Amen.

Go

It is time.

Serve now.