Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Psalm 100:2 (NIV )
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Psalm 100:2 (ESV )
“Worship” and “serve” are both adequate (and equally inadequate) translations from the Hebrew. It’s a both/and situation.
I am a worshiper. I am a servant. I cannot be one and not the other. Worship is a kind of service. Service is a kind of worship. Two dimensions of the same heart that is inclined towards God in love.
This is not problematic for me. I love to serve and/or worship the Lord.
Or do I?
I cast suspicion on myself because what is problematic is the qualifying phrase, “with gladness”. So often I do not serve with gladness. I serve with grumpiness. I serve with a frown. I serve with complaining. I serve with whining. I serve with comparisons. I serve with a need to control. I serve with melancholy. I serve with a critical heart.
If anyone in my church ought to be the most glad to serve the Lord, shouldn’t it be me? (I’m aware right away that I am “shoulding on” myself here. But perhaps there are appropriate places for that.) I should be the most glad to serve — not the most grumpy. The most content — not the most complaining. The most joyful — not the most woeful.
How I serve is how I lead.
If I serve with grumpiness, I will lead others into grumpiness. If I serve with gladness, I will lead others into gladness. If I serve with complaining, I will lead others into complaining. If I serve with joy, I will lead others into joy.