Would any of you say
to your servant, who had just come in from the field after plowing or tending
sheep, “Come! Sit down for dinner?” Wouldn’t you say instead, “Fix my dinner. Put on the clothes of a table servant and
wait on me while I eat and drink. After
that, you can eat and drink”? You won’t
thank the servant because the servant did what you asked, will you? In the same way, when you have done
everything required of you, you should say, “We servants deserve no special
praise. We have only done our duty.” Luke
17:7-10
It is easy to be focused in our daily activities on
relishing the sense of a great job well done.
We also, perhaps, have come to expect to be rewarded, recognized or, at
least, thanked in some way for performing so admirably amongst our peers. In our culture—one that emphasizes individual
achievement, supply and demand, expectations for fair compensation—Jesus’s
message here may at first seem counterintuitive, if not downright disrespectful. Yet, Jesus invites us into an opportunity for
grace—serving without clinging to expectations about what we should receive in
return. His servants’ rewards do not
depend upon recognition or praise, but in the act of serving itself. As slaves or servants do not expect accolades
for fulfilling their responsibilities, Jesus’s followers, likewise, should
expect no special praise for obeying His teachings, even if they are hard or
humbling.
Prayer: Heavenly
Creator, thank you for your teachings and for opportunities to serve you and
those around us. Help us to focus on
acting as faithful followers without expecting accolades or personal benefits. We ask for your forgiveness when we become
distracted by our own desires for tributes and flattery. Amen
Barry and Alinda Stelk
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