The Happy Secret Behind Growing in Christ

If we are not careful, serving God can grow into a duty. Sure, we can certainly see the rationale behind engaging in serving and the spiritual disciplines, but are we doing those things just to feel good about doing them, or because of something deeper?

Michael Reeves in his book Authentic Ministry, gives us this gem:

Delighting in God is therefore the root and happy secret behind growing in Christ, serving the church, and blessing the world. It is not something extra that we add on to a list of righteous actions but the very ground and source of righteous living. So, friends, keep making sure of this: that all your ministry and all your life is an act of worship—full of prayer, full of praise, which are fuel for your enjoyment of God.

Not just duty, but the duty is fueled by delight in and enjoyment of God. We must resist falling into the trap of working for the Lord thinking He will love us more. God loves us and has shown this by sending His Son to that Tree for thee. He cannot love us more, dear Christian. So we operate in delight in the light of His love where “all of your life is an act of worship.”

Hebrews 5:9-12 provides some insight into this delight:

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things--things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (ESV).

God sees the work we do as His beloved for His name. The earnestness we have in doing God's work should be an overflow from the assurance we have in Christ's work on the cross for our behalf. Otherwise, we will grow “sluggish,” lazy in the work because our delight in Christ has dimmed.

Notice, too, the last phrase to counteract the sluggishness that can beset a believer: “… but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (v. 12). God preserves His Word for many reasons. In this case, He does so to provide faithful models to imitate (which He will give to the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11-- the Hall of Fame of Faith). We need to seek out those who delight in the Lord and delight serving the Lord (to be a Timothy to a Paul).

Is your delight in the work, or in the Lord of the work? If your delight is in the Lord of the work, you will find much more delight in His work that you could ever imagine.

Something to think about.

[You should purchase a copy of Michael Reeves' Authentic Ministry. It's a short read but will be so helpful for your journey in Jesus.]