Be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you
1 Samuel 12:24 “Be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”
One gut-check question which people are often asked to consider is: “Why do you do what you do?”. That is a good question to consider. It asks you to consider your motivation, your purpose and other very valuable things which are good to think about.
Our Bible verse for this week helps us look at the question “Why do you do what you do?” from the perspective that God would like us to look at it from.
The second part of the verse is our motivation as Christians: “Consider what great things he has done for you.”.
That one sentence gives us the “why”. So let’s consider the “great things” which God has done for us. The list begins with the cross and the forgiveness and hope of heaven which Jesus won for us there. Those blessings alone are reason for us to desire to wholeheartedly serve the God who has given us the greatest blessings we have. I don’t have to tell you that there are so many more gifts and blessings which are ours.
I likely also don’t have to tell you that there are many times when our motivation is not derived from appreciation for what God has done for and given to us. We get wrongly motivated by money, power, desire for promotion and many other reasons which can be wrong or misdirected. Lord, forgive us for such wrong motivations!!
When we rightly understand what “great things” God has done for us, that leads us to “fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all our heart.” One word which probably needs some clarification is the word “fear”. Here that words means “respect” and not the idea of terror as we so often understand fear. Such “respect” also comes from understanding and appreciating “what great things” God has done for us.
All of this leads us to desire to “serve him faithfully with all our heart”. Think of it this way – Jesus served us with all his heart and gave us his very best. Serving God and others faithfully with all our heart is our way of giving God our very best and thanking him for what he has given to us. Yes, there are temptations to do less than our very best and do only enough to get by. God, keep us from being lazy, slothful or any attitude or action which is anything less than our very best that we may “fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart”.