“Which of you who has a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat?’ Will he not instead say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and appropriately clothe yourself [for service] and serve me while I eat and drink; then afterward you may eat and drink?’ He does not thank the servant just because he did what he was ordered to do, does he? So you too, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants [undeserving of praise or a reward, for we have not gone beyond our obligation]; we have merely done what we ought to do.’”-- Luke 17:7-10 AMP
Serving Jesus, our LORD and Savior! There is no greater task or joy for us here on this earth and it will carry on for us once we get to heaven!
It is interesting though how Jesus cuts right to our hearts in this passage and uses an analogy that all of us should understand. We all are servants to someone. Children to their parents, spouses to each other, employees to their bosses, etc.
In Jesus day, servants we usually people who owed something to those they served. Servants agreed to do whatever was asked of them to pay their debts. A good master took care of their servants, otherwise they were of no use to them and could even be considered a liability.
This however never meant that the master served the servant. It was ALWAYS the other way around!
The work of servant was never completed until the master was done with them. A servant never did something and then demanded something in return for what they’d done and they never expected their master to serve them. The servant served the master and then had to also serve themselves.
Jesus is telling us here that as Christians when we obey what The LORD has commanded us in His Word that we are not to expect anything in return. Yet what do we do? We actually believe that when we are obedient that God owes us something!
The truth is the debt that Jesus paid for us can never be repaid and it is a gift that He's given us, not something we deserve by any stretch of the imagination. I for one, can’t believe that The LORD would want anything to do with me, let alone die for me!
If we're doing things in order to get things, then we are not doing them for the right reasons. We are called to be obedient no matter what, and this includes whether or not those around us ever change, our situation ever changes, etc. The truth of whether or not we actually trust in The LORD, and possibly whether we have a relationship with Him at all, is what happens when things don’t change and go our way or the way we expected. Do we go back to our old pattern of living instead of pressing on and into The LORD!
We have been saved to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do as believers. (Ephesians 2:10) It is Him working in and through us and nothing that we can do ourselves. (Philippians 2:12-13) We need to stop expecting and instead be obedient. Even though we don't deserve it, heaven will be our reward! (Philippians 3:14) If God chooses to bless us with something else along the way, that is up to Him and has nothing to do with us and what we do! And most of us who are reading this are blessed on this earth. Even those who don’t know Jesus are blessed because of The LORD since He is the One who created everything!
How should those of us who have a future in heaven live today? (Philippians 3:14) Should we demand that God give us what we want? Should we live for ourselves? Should we chase after the American dream? What good will it be if we gain the whole world, but lose our souls? (Matthew 16:24-26)
Time is ticking away. Every second, we are one second closer to when we will die and stand before The LORD. None of us knows when that will be, but we all know it is inevitable.
I write this to spur us on to good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do! (Hebrews 10:24-25, Ephesians 2:10) I’m not writing this to condemn or make anyone feel guilty. If you really have The Holy Spirit living in you and you desire to do the right thing by Him and God’s Word, then you probably already are and may be just reacting to what I write and say as The Holy Spirit is talking to you using me or anyone else who is speaking God’s Word! We all choose what we’ll do every moment of our lives. We need to all look at our lives and compare them to God’s Word. Are we doing anything that God’s Word says we shouldn’t be doing? Are we NOT doing anything that God’s Word says we’re supposed to be doing? (James 4:17) What will we do with this information? Shrug our shoulders and continue down the same path, or get with The LORD and get plugged in to serving Him and fellowship with those who will help us as we help them become more like Christ? There is no other reason for a Christian to be on this earth and we all need each other in order to do it!
Remember that a life lived for The LORD is a long path of obedience in His direction. This doesn’t mean we don’t sin, but when we do, we immediately repent, get up, and get right back in the race! (Philippians 2:12-16, 1 John 1:8-10)
Remember, it’s not time to rest until our LORD and Savior calls us home!
Need help, reach out to someone who is serious about their walk with Jesus. Don’t know anyone to talk to, reach out to us, it’s why we exist!
Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, prayer requests, etc. We'd love to pray with and for you and to the best of our ability answer any questions you may have soley using God's Word!
Love y’all and LORD Bless,
Curt & Mary Jo
Note-all Scripture references in parenthesis are direct links God's Word so that you can easily click and read what The LORD has to say about the section before the reference. I encourage you to click, read, study and even memorize these passages for yourself and NOT to just not just take my word for it. (Psalm 119)
