Psalm 100:2 Worship the Lord with gladness

We are to worship the Lord with gladness. When was the last time you did that? Gladness is not the same thing as enthusiasm. We can get emotionally charged up and still not be glad. Gladness is wrapped up in thankfulness. It is an appreciation for God, his faithfulness, and his goodness to us. Gladness is a response to the great privilege that is ours to just be in the presence of God. How can we truly be glad before God in worship?

We must have a proper view of life. Perhaps the Apostle Paul summarizes it the best when he talks about our attitude for living in Phil. 4:4-8. In that passage we are encouraged to focus our thoughts and energies on God instead of ourselves, our agendas, or our world around us. Being intentional on our relationship with the Lord causes us to see life differently. We learn to rest in Him and not concern ourselves with the cares of the world. We focus on those things which enhance our relationship with God instead of those things which harm it. Gladness is the natural response of the soul which knows that God is real and good.

We must have a proper view of sin. We sorely lack in our appreciation for the awfulness of sin. We are far to familar and comfortable with it. We need to recognize how bad sin is for us before we turn away from it. When we are straddled with sin our worship is tarnished. It is impossible to truly appreciate how wonderful it is to be in the presence of God when sin keeps us away from God. Understanding our sin problem moves us to confession and confession leads us to forgiveness and forgiveness brings us great joy and peace. The soul swells up with gladness when all is well with God.

We must have a proper view of eternity. We will spend eternity somewhere. God makes it very clear that only those who are living in Christ will spend eternity with him. Heaven awaits those who's sins have been forgiven and cast into the sea of God's forgetfulness. Christ makes our souls fit for heaven. We will be in heaven some day and it will far exceed anything we can ever imagine. And, the joy and excitement of heaven will never end!

Being ready to die and living in anticipation of heaven makes the heart glad in worship.  Worship without gladness is no worship at all. Jesus said that true worshipers will worship the Lord in both spirit and truth. We have the truth part pretty well down, but need to work on the spirit part.