Beyond the Call of Duty
Luke 17:7-10
"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.'"
I gather from these verses that what we do beyond the call of duty is what really pleases God. The Living Life writer says "obedience to God is simply our duty —we are not entitled to gifts or favors for fulfilling our basic obligations to our Lord and Master. We must serve Him with a grateful and humble heart, not out of an expectation that He will give us something in return." At first, I thought, it meant that we can never satisfy God with our obedience, and how terrible that is for us who would want to please our Heavenly Father more than anyone else if He is ultimately a taskmaster we can never measure up to. However, it finally seemed to me an exhortation to check deep within our hearts' innermost desires, to examine the "whys" of our obedience (or our striving to obey): "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:3-5). Once our hearts are right with God, like our Lord's —the inspired acts that flow from a wellspring of gratitude, love, trust, and reverence—we please our Holy Father we go well over obedience for obedience's sake.
"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.'"
I gather from these verses that what we do beyond the call of duty is what really pleases God. The Living Life writer says "obedience to God is simply our duty —we are not entitled to gifts or favors for fulfilling our basic obligations to our Lord and Master. We must serve Him with a grateful and humble heart, not out of an expectation that He will give us something in return." At first, I thought, it meant that we can never satisfy God with our obedience, and how terrible that is for us who would want to please our Heavenly Father more than anyone else if He is ultimately a taskmaster we can never measure up to. However, it finally seemed to me an exhortation to check deep within our hearts' innermost desires, to examine the "whys" of our obedience (or our striving to obey): "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:3-5). Once our hearts are right with God, like our Lord's —the inspired acts that flow from a wellspring of gratitude, love, trust, and reverence—we please our Holy Father we go well over obedience for obedience's sake.
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