I was recently examining the minutes of our elders’ meetings during this past year and came across this devotional thought I had shared with our leaders a year ago from the esteemed preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, on Psalm 100:2. It challenged me anew to pray that cheerfulness and joy would mark my service and ministry to the Lord and King of the church.

Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent…Our God requires no slaves to grace his throne; he is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have his servants dressed in the attire of joy. The angels of God serve him with songs, not with groans. A murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks… Do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our faith to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.