“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written,’ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve'” ( Matthew 4:10), ESV.

One sleepy Saturday afternoon, a family was visiting a town far from home. Because they were a religious family, they determined to find the location of the local church, and the time of services. Driving up to the church building, they saw an elderly man sitting on the steps, and they rolled down their window to call out:

“Old timer, when does service start?”

He looked them in the eye, and declared, “Right after worship.”

Our time of worship is vital. In it we learn God’s will, and draw strength from fellow Christians, and God. As Jesus indicated, we need to “worship” the Lord. But we also need to “serve” him.

Service is the way we carry out those nice sentiments we expressed in worship during the week; service is the lifestyle that reflects what we learned in worship. Without the service part, our worship is rendered empty and hypocritical.

So you no doubt worshiped this week; are you ready now to serve?

by Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net