I “rendered to Caesar” today. Our property taxes are late after January 31, so I sent in the payment to avoid the penalty. I didn’t enjoy watching the mailman take that check away, but there are some things in life you just do out of necessity. I suppose paying your taxes is one of them.

Sadly, some people see their service to God in the same way. It’s a matter of “have to” instead of “want to.” There is no joy or happiness involved in it, only a mere going through the motions. To them, discipleship itself has become a tax or a burden rather than a blessing.

That’s not what God wants. It certainly is not the spirit behind His favor toward us. All that He provides is a demonstration of His love toward man, the pinnacle of His creation. What does He want from him in return?

God wants workers who want to. Not everyone loves their job. Getting up every morning is a chore. Going to the office is a seemingly unending cycle of monotony. Even coming home only signals the end of a process that will repeat itself in a matter of hours. God’s work must be viewed in a different way.

The Lord’s desire is for a people who follow His will with a “pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). He wants disciples who choose to serve Him because they trust that His commandments are not burdensome. He wants children who are faithful to their Father out of love, not just for fear of the penalty of disobedience. He wants workers who can rejoice even in suffering instead of constantly complaining or bragging about it. God’s will for us is that we never want to be off duty.

God wants worshipers who want to. The worship service is not a box to be checked off so that we can get it out of the way and move on to something “important.” It ought to be considered the focal point of our entire week, what we plan to do first before everything else on our schedule. Why? Because our parents make us go or so the elders won’t keep calling us if we don’t show up? No, because we want to.

Forsaking the assembly was already a problem in the First Century as the writer of Hebrews identified that as “the habit of some” (Heb. 10:25). But perfect attendance doesn’t solve the problem either. True worship must flow from a thankful heart, from one who is glad to go up to the house of the Lord (Psa. 122:1). If our life’s goal is to “grow with a growth which is from God” (Col. 2:19), where else would we want to be when the door of opportunity is opened?

God wants husbands and wives who want to. We know that God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). Recent proponents of gay marriage have used the escalating divorce rates to prove that heterosexuals are in no position to act as an authority on who has the right to marry (as if one sin sanctions another.) But it was the Lord, not man, who long ago legislated the matter. Woman was created a “helper suitable” for the man (Gen. 2:18). God Himself joins a husband and his wife together and makes them one flesh (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:6). That gives Him the right to rule on what He wants in the marriage relationship.

Just as simply showing up to the building does not qualify as worship, merely living in the same house does not constitute a union. Husbands who are selfish with their time and only think about their own needs are not loving their wives as Christ loved the church. Wives who abandon their God-given role are not pleasing to the Lord. No one has to get married. But everyone who is married should want to follow God’s desire and design for a happy home. In so doing, we not only show our reverence to Him who made us one flesh, we graciously serve our fellow heir of the grace of life.

God knows and wants what is best for us. His desire should be our pleasure.

—Bubba Garner