The anticipation I had in His ability gave me the confidence to boldly proclaim, “God will provide! You just wait and see!”
How often do you think about food? I was talking to a friend one day and she was saying that in retirement, it seems, she and her husband always talk about food—what they are going to have for lunch or for dinner, excited at the prospect of eating something good. I exclaimed, “My husband and I do the same thing! I don’t know if as we get older the simpler things in life bring more enjoyment, or if it's that our lives have slowed down with not as much fun and excitement as we once had, so we anticipate and relish food all the more.
I recently learned that when we eat something delicious the brain releases “feel good” chemicals into the “reward system." The brain knows that our bodies are doing something right and releases dopamine into our systems that the brain interprets as pleasure. Our brains are actually hardwired to seek out behaviors that release dopamine. So this might explain why we look forward to and enjoy food so much.
Studies have also shown that doing random acts of kindness releases dopamine, which is known as the “helper's high.” So there we have it. The same feeling of fulfillment and pleasure we gain from eating delicious food is the same way we feel when we serve others.
Interestingly, Jesus spoke about this parallel in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. After His encounter with the woman, His disciples were urging Jesus to eat, but he responded, “'I have food to eat that you do not know about.' So the disciples were saying to one another, 'No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?' Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.'” John 4:32-34
It's amazing how there is a chemical release in our body that is wired to bring God glory, and not only that, but it brings us fulfillment.
Let’s look at three ways this plays out in a person’s life:
1. Anticipation
You might see this subtitle and start singing Carly Simon’s "Anticipation" in your head (lol). The first two lines of that song read, “We can never know about the days to come/ But we think about them anyway, yay.” As believers, we indeed “know about the days to come.” God’s Word tells us that our home will ultimately be in heaven with Jesus, where we will worship and honor Him in constant service. Romans 22:3 says, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.” We should think about those “days” to come every day—anticipating the glories of heaven while serving the Lord here on Earth.
I believe that in the same way that we anticipate good food, we should anticipate doing the will of the Father in service. Every morning we should ask the Lord to show us how we can best serve Him and accomplish His will in our lives. Can you imagine if each Christian prayed this way every morning how God would move on this Earth?
The definition of "anticipation" also includes the word “expectation.” When we are in a state of anticipation of how God will work through our service, we also have an expectation that He will accomplish His will through that act of service. It takes the pressure off of us and places it squarely on God working through us.
Years ago, my husband pastored a small country church. The Lord moved my husband and me to organize a spring break Vacation Bible Study. Our church did not have any young families in it. At least half of the congregants were attendees but did not have a relationship with the Lord, and as a result, we were met with resistance.
“We don’t have any kids!”
“Who will come?”
“We don’t have the money or resources to do this.”
“How can we even make this happen?”
“If kids do come, they will scuff up the paint.”
The naysayers were “anticipating” the worst rather than “expecting” what God would do. I encouraged the congregation to “Wait and see what God would do," building their anticipation. I reminded them that we were following God’s will and prompting and that He would provide all that we needed. I even had a fundraiser and drew a thermometer that was placed on an easel in the sanctuary to monitor donations for VBS. I was excited, anticipating how God would show Himself to this doubting congregation.
Long story short, our thermometer burst through the top. We raised more funds than the goal we set. We had 14 children attend! Once it was clear God’s will was happening, those who doubted the church’s ability to host demonstrated their own God-given gifts and talents by building epic vignettes for the children to have a real immersive experience with the VBS curriculum we chose. It was truly amazing! It was one of those moments where, of course, all glory to God and with utmost respect, I said with a huge smile, “I told you so! I told you that the Lord would provide!”
I look back on that experience and still feel the fulfillment and pleasure, praising God for all that He did. The anticipation I had in His ability gave me the confidence to boldly proclaim, “God will provide! You just wait and see!”
2. Acts of Service
As we saw earlier, God wired our bodies to find fulfillment and pleasure by doing acts of service. And it’s no wonder because His Word tells us in 1 John 4:19 that “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Not only are we hardwired for service, but we each have our own set of good works to do that He especially chose for us.
The Lord has given each one of us spiritual gifts to use in service to Him.
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." 1 Peter 4:10-11
When we are good at something and accomplish a task because of our natural gifting to do it well, our brain releases not only dopamine but serotonin, which is the chemical that controls our happiness, sleep, and, yes, even our appetite.
In the spiritual sense, I believe the more we serve the Lord, it increases our appetite to serve Him. We absolutely find fulfillment and pleasure when we serve others for God’s glory.
If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be a pastor’s wife, a women’s ministry leader, and a writer, I would’ve said you were crazy! I have struggled with anxiety and I am an introvert. Yet the Lord moved through me and gave me strength and the ability to cultivate and grow the gifts He had already planted within me before the world began.
When we serve in these giftings, we experience fulfillment and pleasure like none other because we know it’s not ourselves doing it, but God doing it through us. What a privilege it is that in our humble estate, we can be used to accomplish God’s will in a manner outside of our weaknesses.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-11, "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
3. Fulfillment and Pleasure
When we see the words "fulfillment" and "pleasure," some of us might feel uncomfortable. These words may evoke feelings of self-centeredness and selfishness, the very things the Lord sees as disobedience. Yet it is God who created us to feel fulfillment and pleasure, and especially when we are doing the will of the Father.
In the same way, people may look at the word “serving” or “service” and think, “Well, that sounds like work” or “That sounds demeaning.” Ephesians 6:5-8 says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”
Here, the Apostle Paul is showing us that if even slaves are told to obey their masters with respect, fear, and sincerity of heart just as they would obey Christ, how much more should we who are not slaves in that sense of the word, but indeed bondservants of Christ, serve the Lord wholeheartedly? How much more should we serve not expecting a reward for what we have done, but knowing that the Lord will reward each of us for whatever good we do in His strength and in His name?
Remember that we are God’s creation, wired and imprinted to serve Him with our whole hearts, souls, and minds. How amazing is His love toward us that not only do we not have to do this alone, but He has designed our bodies to have a literal positive chemical reaction that invokes feelings of fulfillment, pleasure, and happiness when we serve Him by serving others?
A happy, fulfilled Christian, especially in service to Him, is the greatest testimony of God’s love to a dying world.
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
May we all experience fulfillment and pleasure by doing the will of the Father, anticipating the Lord’s provision in our acts of service, reframing our thoughts about service.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/BiserkaStojanovic
