Doing Your Job

Scripture: Which of you, having a servant plowing or herding sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come now and sit down for dinner’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare my supper, and dress yourself and serve me until I eat and drink. And afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? I think not. So you also, when you have done everything commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done our duty.’ Luke 17:7-10

Observation: In discussing the function of faithful disciples, Jesus uses this metaphor of a servant. When a servant performs their duty, they are not then rewarded. Instead, they are assigned to their next task. No one celebrates the fact the servant got their work done, because it was simply expected of them. Jesus explicitly aligns this to the disciples, stating that when they have done everything commanded of them, they are simply to acknowledge that they are 'unprofitable servants' who have done their duty.

Application: When talking to God, have I ever pointed out to him that I should receive some reward due to my faith and belief? That is clearly non-biblical. In all parts of scripture, God rewards based on his own criteria. While he may bless those who believe, even that blessing may not be what we always expect. In the case of people like Noah, Lot, Job, David, Moses, Samson, Daniel ... often their 'blessing' is that their lives are spared (and sometimes not even that), while their homes are destroyed, their loved ones die, and their world is overturned.

The point of Jesus is that we do not serve for profit. We do not serve in order to receive the rewards. We serve - we do our job - period. We do so without worrying about our reward, or without even worrying about what is fair today. Earthly rewards and daily fairness are not part of the deal. The love of God and eternal promise is.

Prayer: Lord, I have had a terrible 18 hours. Please guide me in the next 8 hours to do your will. Help me to change lives positively, to value others, to dismiss the idea that things should be fair, and to serve your purposes out of my situations at work. Amen.