Thought of the Day !!

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 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 17:7-10 (NIV)

 Let me share a story with you about a famous evangelist, D. L. Moody.  Moody was hosting a Bible Conference in Massachusetts in the late 1800’s.  Many of the participants came from Europe.  Following the European custom of the time, they left their shoes outside their room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight.  They didn’t know that there were no hall servants in America.  

Walking down the dormitory halls that night, Moody noticed the shoes and wanted to make sure that his guests were not embarrassed.  He gathered up the shoes, went to his room and began to clean and polish them.  During the night, an unexpected friend came by and caught him in the act of this good deed. 

The following morning the foreign visitors opened their doors and found their shoes shined.  They didn’t know by whom.  Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference a different person volunteered to shine the shoes in secret each night.  Moody, and the other volunteers, saw doing whatever good for their European guests as their duty.  And if that meant cleaning their shoes and receiving no accolades for it…so be it.  

This parable that Jesus shares is probably no one’s favorite.  As a matter of fact, my dislike of it stems from the fact that I truly believe that our service should come out of love, not duty.  But I guess that when we love God with all our hearts, and serve Him because of this, we still have this duty (or obligation), we just don’t see it that way. 

I think what Jesus is saying here is that God doesn’t owe us anything for living good Christian lives.  His love, forgiveness and blessings that He gives us are a matter of grace, not something we’ve earned.  So why should we visit the sick…care for those in need…forgive each other…love each other?  Because we’re supposed to…because it’s our duty…because when we do, it brings a smile to God’s face and warm feeling to His heart.   That’s enough reward for those who love Him.  And so our duty becomes our desire.

In the love of Christ,
greg