2-21-15- Only Doing Our Duty

 9Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So 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 17:9,10)

Thoughts: On the one hand, some think that we are basically good people. On the other hand many of these who think this way believe they should be rewarded for being good.  The Bible implies something different.  It says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  We are unworthy servants.  When we do something good- we are doing only what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.  The temptation for those who do good is to have pride in our goodness.  We are designed and called to serve God.  When we fail to serve Him we should be ashamed.  When we serve Him we are only doing our duty and have no need to brag.  A servant is one who treasures humility and knows that bragging on good is not what a truly good servant does. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to serve you.  Show me how I might serve you better.  

10/27- Cost of Forgiveness

10/27- Monday Luke 17:3-4 3So watch yourselves.  “If your brother or sister^a sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

Bonhoeffer: “In confession the break through to community takes place.  Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community.  The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous the isolation.”

Thoughts: Forgiveness is the means to restoration from isolation.  Jesus knew this and was willing to encourage us to forgive again and again and again and again and again and again and again in order for us to restore our love for the other person.  The point is not the number seven  as opposed to eight, but the spirit of forgiveness and the cost of abuse paid by the one taking advantage of forgiveness.  Forgiveness always costs something.  It may cost our pride; it may cost giving up something to the other person who took what was not theirs; it may mean giving up our reputation to the Lord to someone who sullied it; it may mean turning the other cheek.  The ultimate price paid for forgiveness is the cross of Christ. 

Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to be willing to pay the cost of forgiveness.  Help me to bear my cross as I forgive another today.

Mission: Who has a grudge against you today?  Who must you forgive in your heart today?