How to Serve God Out of Delight

Listen to your heart.

That sounds like pop culture fodder, but the Bible says that’s what God wants you to do. He wants you to look at what you’re made to do in order to know what he wants you to do. But most people these days are moving so fast that they don’t have time to listen to their heart anymore.

People all over the world are speeding along with no direction. They’re in such a hurry, stressed with too much to do—and they won’t realize until it’s too late that they didn’t have to do so much.

This isn’t the plan God has for you. He wants you to slow down and listen to your heart. Romans 12:3 says, “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves” (NLT).

I suggest you get alone with God and ask yourself these questions:

• What do I love to do?
• What do I dream of doing?
• What fascinates me?
• What can I talk about, think about, and study all day without getting bored?
• Where have I been most effective in my life?

I once baptized an 80-year-old woman after a service at Saddleback Church. She wanted to be a small group host. That’s pretty cool—an 80-year-old small group host! She said, “I just wish I learned years ago that we serve God out of our design, not out of duty.”

I wish everybody could learn that truth. That’s what SHAPE—your Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences—is all about. You serve God out of your design and the way he shaped you. You serve God not out of duty, force, or guilt but because you love him. Because when you do what he wired you to do, it brings glory to him.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you’ve been given—in other words, of what God put you on earth to do. Then serve God out of delight and gratitude. That’s the way to live.