Luke 17:7-10

Luke 17:7-10

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

Oh man, I see so much humility required to live out these verses. If I live these out, I don’t live for myself. I don’t get to demand anything in return for what I do or even feel pride that I accomplished so much. There is a common saying among Christians, “dead men have no rights,” and I think that it sums up this verse pretty well. When Jesus died, we became forever indebted to Him. Accepting Him into your heart is signing your life away and giving it to someone greater than you are. We can never truly pay Him back for what He did, but He asks for our heart and that seems reasonable to me in light of eternity. The only thing we have to offer is our heart and with our heart comes our life. We are no longer free to live as we please because we are “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Slaves have no rights, what their master commands they do or they suffer the consequences. American Christians seem to have a really hard time with this concept. We treasure freedom and the ability to choose what we want so much that it affects our relationship with the Lord. Instead of being Christians who live in America, we become Americans who are also Christians. We forget who is really in control and holds everything together by His power. I know I bring this verse up all the time, but in Romans 12:1 it says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” It is a reasonable thing to become a living sacrifice, fully submitted to the Lord.