Luke 17:8 says, "But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink."
Luke 17:9 says, "Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not."
Luke 17:10 says, "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.'"
In this verse, Jesus basically spells it out for us. When you have followed the commandments and been a servant as I(Jesus) have told you to, don't look for thanks, but recognize that you have done your duty; you have completed the task that was given to you; you have finished what you were supposed to. No one owes you thanks. But I know a lot of times I actually do receive thanks. But it won't always be this way, especially if I do something without people knowing about it.
I know that most people aren't as detail oriented as I am. For the most part, I notice when things change. I notice improvements. So in the past I know that I have expected people to be like me and then get frustrated when they don't notice something that I did for them. Sometimes, I would drop hints, "Yeah, I know when I was cleaning up your stuff for you, I noticed that…" or "Hey, the kitchen is looking pretty great, huh? I cleaned it completely by myself while you were gone…" I'm embarrassed to say that this is still something that I struggle with but I am actively giving it to God and asking Him to change this part of me, especially since I have been here at IGNITE. Fishing for compliments like that almost completely undermines the kind act in the first place. There is no humility involved when you have to mention it like that. Basically what I'm saying is, "Hey, did you see that nice thing I did for you? You should notice that nice thing I did."
Looking at these verses has made me think of my mom. She is a great example of a servant that doesn't expect thanks. From when her children are born, she is serving, knowing that she won't be thanked. She has done so much for me and I know that she has given up so much for me and I always took it for granted because I saw it as her job as my mom. She never had to homeschool me or take me to all the practices that she did, and so many other things. I hope that as I got older I was better at recognizing the amazing way that she served me. I imagine that there is so much that she did for me that I still don't even know about. But the awesome thing is that she never did something and then fished for a compliment like I so often did. She knew that she most likely wouldn't get thanks and that she was doing her job. I hope she knows how much she is appreciated. I hope she understands how much I respect her. (I love you and miss you mommy and really do appreciate you so much!!!)
It's so humbling to be surrounded daily by amazing servants of God that have given Him their life and constantly serve each other and most of the time, when extra nice things happen, no one really knows who was responsible. It's beautiful and such an awesome example of a humble servant. They don't need anyone to know that it was them who did the kind deed because they understand that a jewel on their Heavenly crown has so much more meaning than a pat on the back from a human. Matthew 6:3-4 says, "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." I know that I have referred to this passage a lot this week but this is really something that I am working on so this is what I keep thinking about. God, My Heavenly Father, sees the things that I do in secret. He sees the kind acts that don't get recognized. And He will one day reward me openly. How crazy cool is that? I know that I also keep saying this but that sounds like so much better of a scenario. Someone gets blessed and doesn't know who did it but God sees and I get rewarded by Him. Okay, I'll take that one. I want to serve to my best ability in this life no matter who notices it or not and at the end of my life, there would be nothing more rewarding than to hear my Master say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord."
Application:
Today, I will write Matthew 6:3-4 on my arm so that I am constantly reminded of how I am to serve. (Also, when I get wifi, I'm gonna thank my mom for being great. :)
P.S.- Super cool thing, yesterday we got a name of a person that we are serving for the rest of the week and the trick is to not let anyone know and to especially not let the person know. So I am supposed to do one nice thing for them everyday without letting anyone see me. So for further application, I want to do this to the best of my ability.
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