“We’re Christians, but it’s so easy to forget we’re servants. And it smarts a bit when He reminds us.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 20, 2025
by Jill Turner
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10
My friends and I are reading through Luke and enjoying the Bible more than ever lately. But a couple of weeks ago, we read a passage in Chapter 17 that sort of smacked us in the face. Jesus asked a question: Who would greet his servant after he came in from a hard day of work and offer him a meal?” Jesus’ answer? No one. He would tell the servant, “Prepare me a meal and wait on me; then you can eat.”
“Would you thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?” Jesus asked. “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.’”
Wow! Was Jesus mad because his closest friends were always arguing about who would be greatest (Luke 9:46)? Had the Sons of Thunder finally gotten on his last nerve?
Maybe yes. But it’s a warning to us, too. We didn’t earn our position in Christ. We’re unworthy servants. We live in this world where people get ahead by being popular or good at something, making a lot of money, gaining power, influence, and possessions. We’re Christians, but it’s so easy to forget we’re servants. And it smarts a bit when He reminds us.
If we really believed this truth about ourselves, maybe this story wouldn’t hit us so hard. Maybe we’d read Luke 17:7-10 and say, “Yeah. It’s true.”
It’s just so easy to get full of ourselves and not even notice this sin. We get an education, work for years, decades even, to hone our skills. We get promoted, recognized, praised. But the Bible offers so many reminders that none of the good things we’ve received came by our own efforts. Verse after verse reminds us:
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth….’” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
And it’s not just wealth. My friend, Ken Boa, used to say that none of us walked through a cafeteria line and chose all the abilities and opportunities we’d one day have: “I’ll take two servings of critical thinking, one communication skills, a serving of physical strength and, for dessert, I’d like to be born into a good family.”
But what if we did remember that it all came from God? How many arguments wouldn’t happen? How many times would we NOT be disappointed? How much more grateful might we be?
And how much easier would it be to draw close to the One who, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage [but] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant”?
Prayer
Father, please help me to find satisfaction and even joy in being your servant. Let this influence every aspect of my life, including how I interact with others. Amen.
Application
Spend some time today meditating on the fact that you are God’s servant. Carry it around with you, and think about how you might reshape your life in light of this teaching.
Related Reading
Worship Resource
Twila Paris: Keeper of the Door
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