Serve the LORD with gladness... For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting.

Psalms 100:2, 5, KJV

It was near the end of the big game. The score was close and the outcome could easily swing from victory to defeat with a single basket from either side. I can remember looking down on the faces of my girls and seeing the anxiousness and tension. I couldn't resist reminding them, "Isn't basketball fun?" They started grinning at this reminder and went out and won the game. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand. It would have still been a fun game had they lost, but the joy is made all the sweeter in victory.

We are going to achieve victory someday! I believe that with all of my heart because I have read the agreement that God has made with us that is contained within the Bible. In part, this agreement reveals that God loves us more than we can imagine. It also shows that He has extended His grace and Jesus has shed his saving blood for all who desire salvation. We still have our part to do just as my girls still had to go out and play their best. But, unlike the uncertainty of the game, the outcome of our salvation is certain if we will only finish the game in the right way.

I believe we all need to reminded of this fact from time to time. It must be stressed that we indeed must keep up our end of the agreement, but if we do we know that God will not fail to keep up His end of the bargain. We read that in the 100th Psalm: God is good! His mercy is everlasting! Since this is the case, how can we not serve Him with gladness?

This is the part of life that I am convinced too many people miss. There is joy in playing a basketball game! I have played in thousands, from organized to pickup games in the gym and on driveways all across America. I have no idea what percentage of the games I won or lost, but I do know I had fun in just about everyone of them. I have also been on thousands of hikes and climbs and assorted adventures in my life. From climbing trees and mountain trails, to hiking through woods and walking countless roads with my wife, I have loved the journey.

I don't recall having ever said something along the lines of "let's go hike to the top of this mountain so we can get it over with", or "I think I'll climb a tree so I can do something fun afterward". The reason I never said that is because the joy is in the journey! I don't know that I was always conscience of this fact, but I do know that I have always gone on the journey because something about the process just makes me happy. 

I am convinced that this is the way God wants us to view our service to Him. That's why he had the psalmist write, "Serve the LORD with gladness", isn't it? Since this is the case, doesn't it make sense to do just that? Too often, I have seen people at the worship of the LORD looking as if they didn't want to be there. Now I realize that this could have been due to the fact that they were listening to me preach at the time, but there could have been other reasons. Sometimes we look around and see people with faces filled with concern, stress, and anxiety, and if we looked in the mirror we might often see the same thing.

But this shouldn't be! Just like we sometimes have to be reminded that the game is fun, we sometimes have to remind ourselves that serving God is joyful. It's true that this is sometimes hard to remember during the most difficult parts of both games and life, but remember it we must! For, it is when we remember that the joy is in the journey that we can truly be glad in our service to God. We are going to heaven! Why not act like we are excited at the prospect of arriving someday?