Luke 17:7-10 (NLT) “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”
Ben and I recently got rid of our cable TV. I’ll be honest - I kinda mourned it. Netflix and Hulu are nice, but they don’t meet my ADD need to surf the full gamut of channels during every commercial break. But we were at the point that we hardly ever watched live broadcasts, except during times where we could easily be doing something more productive.
As I was having my devotions this morning, this passage from Luke caught my heart’s attention because it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to let all of those beautiful HGTV-esque channels go. I need to keep working. Oh, not on “work work” things, as my family needs my attention once I get home, but on other things that are just as important to the Kingdom as whether or not I get another e-mail written. Things like being on the floor playing with my kids, like talking with my husband about our plans for today, tomorrow and the future, like never-ending laundry and like laughing and enjoying family time. Those ARE Kingdom-building activities. Those ARE my work.
When Jesus spoke those words, he wasn’t talking about me and TV, but I do need to apply the principle to my life that He taught - don’t stop and look for thank-you’s. Keep going. Keep working. Keep doing what He has called you to do. And remember, that may be more than one thing at a time. Yes, God has called me to follow him, be a pastor and lead others, but He has also called me to be a wife and mom. And when I don’t compartmentalize and say at 5:00pm that my “work” is done - I remember that as a servant of God, I am going to keep working the rest of the evening. In fact, laying in bed and praying at night… work. Good work. Kingdom work. Rewarding work.
Because everything I do is unto Him.
