Devoted to Serve with Delight

Editorial by David Snyder - President/General Director

Our God is a wonderful God! He deserves all of our honor, worship, and praise. Every good thing we possess has come from Him—the One Who is eternally gracious and merciful. The goodness of the Lord should naturally lead us to a life of devoted service that we joyfully carry out every day we live. However, because of our sin nature, we tend to forget the benevolence of God and often do not serve with devotion or delight. Since it is good to be reminded regularly about God’s goodness, the 2026 theme I have chosen for BIMI is Devoted to Serve with Delight. I pray that it will be a reminder throughout the year that we can and should serve the Lord with delight from a heart filled with devotion. There are three main thoughts in this year’s theme: devotion, service, and delight. In this editorial, I would like to connect those three thoughts to each other and to the Great Commission.

The word DEVOTION means “Religious fervor; an act of prayer or private worship…the act of dedicating something to a cause, enterprise, or activity.... Devoted refers to one’s commitment to another through love and loyalty.”1 As I consider that definition, I am struck with the prominence of worship and love as it relates to dedication and commitment. When it comes to the Great Commission, there is no way we can accomplish it without being fully devoted to the task. So, how can we raise the level of our devotion for worldwide evangelization? The only way this will happen is if we worship God from a heart that is fully in love with Him. True devotion to the Lord of the harvest field leads to service in the harvest field of the Lord. I remember after being saved at eight years of age, my whole world changed. My life was now about serving my Savior. My faith as a child was great because my love for the Lord was great. As an adult, I find that I need to regularly recommit myself to both a childlike faith in my Savior and a childlike love for my Savior.



As mentioned above, SERVICE to the Lord flows from a heart of love for the Lord. Without a doubt, the heartbeat of God is missions. It is unmistakenly emphasized throughout Scripture that God uses laborers—servants—to accomplish His will. Since God is omnipotent, He could complete the Great Commission on His own. However, He has chosen to use human instruments. Although I did not understand how God would or even could use me, I surrendered to full-time missions when I was ten years old. I began to experience what serving the Lord was all about when I got involved in the bus ministry and other ministries within my local church. God has used—and continues to use—those times of service throughout the past several decades of my life. It is encouraging to know that my service to the Lord is not in vain.2

If we are truly devoted—worshipfully dedicated—to serving God, we will find DELIGHT in serving Him. The Psalmist wrote, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.3 Here again there is a connection between devotion (God’s Law in his heart) and service (doing God’s will). It is because of that connection the Psalmist experienced joy in serving the Lord. Too often we seek for delight so that we can serve with devotion. However, I believe it is important to start with devotion, which will lead to a grateful attitude, allowing us to serve with joy. That is not to say every aspect of our service will be delightful. While serving the Lord, I have experienced a tremendous amount of trials. However, as I continued to serve through the midst of those trials, the delight came later. Again, worldwide evangelization is definitely the will of God. Thus, we can and should experience an eternal delight as we fulfill His will.

There is a Great Commission to be completed—not just considered. Lack of devotion, service, and/or delight will greatly hinder getting the message of salvation around the globe. If we begin with devotion to God, it will lead to service for God and enable us to say I delight to do thy will, O my God. In other words, the only way to effectively reach the world for Christ is by being devoted to serve with delight.

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1 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/devotion
2 1 Corinthains 15:58
3 Psalm 40:8

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