Unworthy Servants

I find it interesting that everyone expects a Christmas bonus in companies that still give them, just because they showed up through the year and did their job. People expect merit raises even though they didn't do anything except what they were hired to do. For some, just showing up for work is reason enough to give them special recognition. 

The truth of the matter,meow ever, is that just doing what you were hired to do is no reason for bonus pay or merit raises or special recognition. While an employer may choose to give you recognition or a bonus of some kind, the reality is that if you just did what you were paid to do, you were already compensated. Anything beyond that is a gift. 

Even some Christians feel that they have somehow obligated God to reward them because they have been regular in church attendance, making their offering, reading their Bibles and helping out now and then in a ministry effort. 

Jesus does not agree, instead he says, "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).  Doing what you are supposed to do is not reason for special honor.  

Jesus was not saying you are lost in this instance, only that you are not worthy of praise or honor for just doing what a servant would be expected to do. Perhaps that is part of the problem - we don't always see outprselves as servants but rather as benefactors, donating and helping out in God's cause. 

In our prayers, it sometimes seems like we view God as our servant, expecting Him to do this or that at our call as if He were a cosmic bellhop.  I have a one-word response to that idea: Not!  

God loves us and he provides for us, not because we deserve it but because he is grace filled. We are not worthy of his blessings, they are gifts. Our response should be one of gratitude that causes us to want to serve him without expectation of anything more. We can't do enough to merit salvation or his blessings. We are unworthy servants but also beloved children and heirs.  Jus' Sayn.