“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:10
Jesus’ parables have a way of teaching us a lesson with such clarity. The “religious” side loathed His parables because they saw the hidden meaning, and the soul-hungry people loved them because it gave them a reference to understand complex truths.
Luke 17:7-10 reads: “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Reading this account in Luke felt like a loving rebuke given by the Holy Spirit today. It feels so easy to get tangled in the ways of the world, to expect a pat on the back, to hope someone saw that good deed, to want to toot our own horn. It’s natural to want encouragement, but looking for it as the world does doesn’t honor the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. In fact that behavior seeks to honor self, and the recognition garnered from that self-serving behavior is the only reward to expect.
The Lord has been working on a specific area in my life. For years He’s been teaching me lessons, and I am finally starting to hear Him, see Him, and trust Him where this area is concerned. But reading this account felt like God saying, you still have much to learn.
Following Christ can be hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it, I suppose. God-given patience will pay off one day. Following His leading, though it runs contrary to all our human wiring, is worth it. We will get the recognition, like our soul craves, when His time is right. And how much better His encouragement will be.
Verse 10 says: “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty”. It’s like this verse turned the lights on in my mind. I don’t remember taking it to heart before, but it seared into my heart today making me realize my station in life.
I am like a humble ant. Ants are nameless and look so very similar to their fellow worker. Ants are industrious because they were designed that way. How am I to think I deserve something more than the privilege to carry out the work ordained for me. I am not nameless. Jesus knows my name. I am not identical to my fellow woman. The Holy Spirit knows me intimately. Yet like the ants, I have a job to do. My job is to be an ambassador for Christ, and how I carry that out in different stages in my life will look different, but each new platform to proclaim His saving mercies and unending grace is my duty while here on this earth.
My flesh so clouds my mind sometimes, but when I imagine standing in front of our holy Father, the perfect Son, and our dearest friend the Holy Spirit on judgement day, believe this is exactly the phrase we will quote. “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty”.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of life and the high calling to do our duty for your kingdom.
