September 25, 2025
24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
In our last devotional, we reflected on the first principle of learning to serve God rightly. According to Samuel's words in 1 Samuel 12:24, we must realign our spiritual hearts to grow in the fear of the Lord. Fearing God—or having holy respect for His authority—compels us to serve Him. I don't mean that we should feel forced to serve God in our daily lives. Rather, I am suggesting that we should be so convinced of His mighty lordship over us that we desire to serve Him in a fitting way. This leads us to our next principle: serving God faithfully with all our hearts.
What does it mean to serve God faithfully? Faithfulness is not simply a cliché Christian term. It has profound meaning and application in the life of a believer. In this case, the word "faithfully" is also the same Hebrew word for "truth." Therefore, the Bible is commanding us to serve God in two precise ways: we must serve Him with consistency, and we must serve Him honestly.
As an illustration, if we want to serve our spouse faithfully, we must necessarily be honest and truthful to them. We cannot be faithful to our spouse while also lying to them. Therefore, both faithfulness and truthfulness work hand in hand.
It is very possible to serve God in a hypocritical fashion or with impure intentions. We might be serving in our church while also delighting in unrepentant sin when no one is around. In this case, we completely nullify our service and true worship, because God sees and knows everything about us.
We might also be serving because we desire praise, recognition, and a prominent position among others. In this case too, God knows the motivations of our hearts and sees that we are not sincere in our dedication to Him. Jesus, quoting the prophet Isaiah, said about the Pharisees that they honoured God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him; they worship God in vain (Matthew 15:8–9). How would Jesus characterize our service to Him? Are we serving Him in vain, or are we seeking to give Him an honest offering.
This is the central calling of every believer: we must strive to serve God wholly, with every piece of our hearts. We must not dare to give Him the leftovers of our energy and time. We should be appalled at the thought of serving Him in a lazy or half-hearted manner. We must ask ourselves a serious question: What does the King of Glory deserve from me? The Bible tells us. We are urged to offer our entire bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—for this is our true and proper worship (Romans 12:1). We are also urged to work for the Lord with all our hearts, doing everything for the sake of giving God all the glory (Colossians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 10:31).
Prayer:
Dear Lord, I know there have been many times when I have been inconsistent in my service to You. I am reminded today of what You deserve from my life. Help me to deny myself and carry the cross that You bore for my sake. Enable me by Your Spirit to serve You faithfully, honestly, and with all my heart. Amen.