The old hymn, All People that on Earth do Dwell begins with these lyrics:
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the LORD with cheerful voice;
Him serve with mirth, His praise forth-tell;
come ye before Him and rejoice!
Admittedly, there is some old fashioned English in there, but it is magnificent poetically and theologically. That’s because it draws directly from Psalm 100:2 which says, “Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”
What an invitation. It’s not “serve the Lord in begrudging obedience” or “grit your teeth and serve the Lord.” No, Him serve with mirth. Mirth is laughter. It is joy. It is overflowing happiness. It is what Psalm 100 calls “gladness.”
We can serve this way and find this kind of enjoyment in the service because “he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (100:3) We don’t expend our energy in an effort to satisfy an irascible taskmaster. We serve in the energy he has given and in the assurance that we are his–his beloved, his children, his sheep to care for.
So today, let us Him serve with mirth because all God has done for us in Christ.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
