A Willing Mind

But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your Name, O Lord, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

✙ Ps 54:4-7

"The generality of [humanity] promises largely to God so long as they are under the present pressure of affliction, but are no sooner relieved than they relapse into that carelessness which is natural to them, and forget the goodness of the Lord. But David engages to sacrifice freely, and in another manner than the hypocrite, whose religion is the offspring of servility and constraint. We are taught by the passage that, in coming into the presence of God, we cannot look for acceptance unless we bring to his service a willing mind. "

—John Calvin

Is my religion 'the offspring of servility and constraint'? Or do I serve God freely? Are the vows that I make part of deals which I imagine to be beneficial to me made during times of trouble, or do they spring forth from a loving and willing heart, intent upon serving God through good and bad?

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing I am doing your will.

—Ignatius of Loyola

I pray in his Name who taught me: Our Father...